The Ice Storm
by MoonLover68
Summary: This is the sequel to Circle Of Sisters, and the final installment in that series.
1. Chapter 1

Greetings 10K fans and fellow writers! This is the final installment of my series that began nearly two years ago. If you have not read "Once Bitten", "Dark Moon Brother" and "Circle Of Sisters" (in that order) then I'm afraid you won't understand what is happening in this story.

This story will be posted in chapters, with updates on a weekly basis. I hope you enjoy it. Reviews or feedback are always welcome.

"The Ice Storm" picks up approximately one week after the return of Wolf and Virginia to Castle White following their adventures at Coven Lake in the Second Kingdom...

_The Ice Storm_

Chapter One

Wolf cursed quietly as he toiled through the great drifts of snow piled up against the door. The sunlight shining on the whiteness made for blinding conditions, though it did little to melt the smothering blanket that seemed to have covered the whole world. Wolf rubbed at his cheeks, sure that they would be rosy with the cold. Behind him, a cubbish giggle drew his attention, just as the wet crunch on the back of his neck announced yet another snowball. More giggles followed. With their white cloaks and hoods, Alice and Caelum were almost invisible against the snow covered lawn. Wolf made a show of pretending not to see them as they scuttled from drift to drift. His little son, barely a foot tall at seven months of age, toddled gamely after his much bigger playmate. Wolf watched as the boy fell face first into a loose pile of powder, the rest of the stack coming down to cover his head completely. Wolf held his breath, all his instincts at war with themselves in much the same way as his human and wolf minds often argued. In fact, it was an all too common human-wolf struggle going on, he realised. His human tendencies made him want to leap after his child, rescue him from his icy predicament. And yet his wolf mind looked on with an almost cold detachment. The cub needed to learn survival, not be protected from it. Caught between the two, he whined softly. A sudden spray of snowy powder erupted from the ground just as his legs poised to move. Caelum's head appeared, followed by shoulders, arms and behind as he scrambled free and tumbled down the slope to land at his father's feet. Wolf reached down to pull the youngster to his feet, mussing the flakes from the dark curls.

"Careful, my son" he spoke softly. Caelum's sea green eyes met his own for a moment. Wolf could see that the snowy tomb had not really bothered his son for a second. His wolfish pride surged, but he took care not to show it too openly to the boy. Courage was a good thing to be encouraged in a wolf cub's life, but recklessness was not. Besides, Virginia would make _herself_ a coat from his tail should he ever let anything happen to their son. Wolf whistled, a sharp, high tone. Alice showed herself within seconds, another snowball encased within her mittened hands. Wolf had a mind to scold her slightly for leaving Caelum unwatched, but he had a change of heart when he saw her smile. The girl-cub hadn't had much to smile about in recent times, much less find the time to simply play about like a child should. She waited obediantly enough, but Wolf was not fooled. Defiance lurked behind her eyes. At five years of age, it was to be expected that a cub would show some sort of inner struggle with the rules of pack, but there was a gypsy-born independance in her stance that hinted at a tremendously strong personality that waited only for adulthood to bloom. Or maybe even before then, Wolf thought with a wry smile. Will would have trouble keeping her under control once she got her teeth, he chuckled inwardly. He dropped his gaze from her to scan the surrounds nonchalantly. Released from his scrutiny, Alice almost thought about throwing the snowball, but in the corner of his eye he saw her drop it to the ground. Caelum scampered over to her and she took up his hand.

Wolf turned back to his task. The unseasonal dumping of snow had kept them all cooped up in the White Castle for nearly a week. The blizzard that had descended on the 4th Kingdom on that evening when they had returned from Coven Lake had blown itself out overnight. Wolf had needed no encouragement from Virginia to make the trip from the castle to here, their cottage home. Had he not known the surrounding lands so well, he might well have driven the cart right past the gate. Everything was covered by at least a foot of snow, much more than was usual for this region, quite apart from the fact that it was only early autumn. The leaves on the trees had not even turned and fallen. Now, they were frozen onto the branches. As were many of the inhabitants of the disenchanted forest, he supposed with a worried frown. The forest, looming over the fields where Virginia's sheep stood huddled together was nominally his responsibility these days. Though he commanded no-one, and none would likely take his orders, he was it's Warden, it's spokesperson and protector. Nothing stirred from within the depths that he could see or hear. Perhaps the worst of the weather had not penetrated the vast network of trees and creepers. Tomorrow, he would return and find out, he reasoned with himself. Today, however, would be taken up with the unearthing of his house.

By mid afternoon, when the cubs had long since tired of building snow-wolfs, he managed to scrape away enough ice to gain access to the cottage. It was as cold as a cellar inside. As an adult of his kind, Wolf had some immunity from the cold, and even though his winter coat had yet to grow in, he had some protection from the long ridge of fur running down his back. Plus, Wolf had always suspected that half-wolfs and other folk of lupine descent had a naturally higher body temperature than purebred humans. They were hybrids, perfectly designed for their tough environment. Hardier than the humans, who muttered and grumbled and killed other creatures to keep themselves warm. And here he stood, chilled for another reason. Despite it's all too humanistic appearance, Wolf missed his home. They'd been gone for a month, chasing mysteries and deities and the waxing of the moon, and Wolf knew in his heart that it would still be a time yet before he would be able to return here in comfort and safety. A time of winter. That was what Virginia had called it, her breath fogging up the glass in the window that morning.

Stirring himself, Wolf darted up the stairs to the main bedroom. He pulled down a large satchel, tossing in various items of clothing belonging to himself and Virginia. Many soft woollen garments he stowed, along with much of the stuff that Virginia had brought back from the 10th Kingdom, the odd smelling and foreign feeling man made fibres that so many wore in that land. He did not neglect her undergarments either, knowing how much she liked her little frilly things that had no particular practical use that Wolf could ever imagine. He hesitated over her maternity clothes. Surely they would be back here before she ever needed them? His heart jumped in his chest at the image of Virginia heavy with child. If he had to admit it to himself, he absolutely adored her when she looked like that. It appealed directly to his wolfish beliefs. Pregnant females were the sign of a healthy, prosperous pack. But he reminded himself not to ever try and explain it to Virginia that way. She'd already complained that she felt like a brood mare, getting pregnant again so soon after Caelum's birth. Wolf thought that she might even be feeling slightly embarrassed about it, in that funny way humans had. He sniffed at the clothes, remembering her gestational scent fondly, before stashing them away back in the cupboard.

The two cubs were asleep in the back of the wagon when he returned to it. He stowed the clothing in beside them. Alice's eyes opened to slits to peer at him as he secured the baggage. Wolf smiled at her.

"Hungry?"

"No, uncle Lucian"

"Call me Wolf, if you must talk in human, Alice"

"Why? Are we not all wolf's together?"

"Well of course, but..."

"But what?"

"But nothing! I just decided a thing, and did it. Lucian is no longer my name. Hasn't been since I was a cub, older than you"

"Can I change my name then? My mother died too" Alice replied, soberly now. Wolf bit back the retort and tried to calm his irritation at being questioned by a five year old girl. Damn that she looked so like his own mother Sarah. She even had some of her grandmother's inflections in her tone and manner.

"What would you change it to then, Alice?" he asked, curious. The girl-cub's face creased in serious thought for a minute.

"Zaphira"

"That's no name for a wolf. That's a dragon's name, Alice" Wolf replied, remembering his history lessons. It would be ill luck to name oneself after such a devastating and doomed creature. He observed the girl quietly as she sat curled up in the wagon. She had an odd look on her face that he couldn't quite read. It prickled down his spine. "Stay Alice, for now, cubling. It's not right that you give up the name your mother gave you, not so soon, when her spirit may yet linger...". The cub nodded her head thoughtfully, looking up at the deepening sky. Clouds, fat with more snow, were gathering again on the horizon. Wolf sighed and secured the rest of the luggage, before going out round the back to check on the livestock. The chicken house stood quiet, it's inhabitants lying like little frozen mounds on the floor. Wolf nudged one with his boot. Solid. He left the hens where they were. The sheep were huddled together miserably in the barren field, but at least they were alive, which would please Virginia, Wolf thought. He opened the barn doors and tossed down all the hay from the loft and despite their worried stares, the woolly creatures fell to with grumbling stomachs. Wolf didn't know how long the hay would last, much less the sheep when word got round the lupine community that they were bereft of a human protector. Ah well, waste not, want not, as the humans often said.

Back at the house, he brushed off the ice clinging to the coat of the pony and took up the reins. Caelum clambered up to sit in his lap as he turned onto the road back to the castle. It was a good ten miles of track and road to Castle White, but it took twice as long for the cart to plough through the drifts. Several times Wolf had to get out and clear the way. On the eigth time, he came across something unsual lying in the road. It hadn't been there earlier in the day, he was sure of it. The elf was cold and still. The fairy like wings, usually pulsing with life and energy, were as brittle as dry leaves. Tiny cracks ran along them from the elf's back down to the tips. Wolf lifted the body carefully and put it in the back of the wagon. Though it looked quite dead, one could never be sure with elf folk. Alice came to sniff at the frozen form.

"What's it doing here, uncle?" she asked timidly.

"I don't know, but perhaps it's a messenger from the Elf Kingdom. See, it's carrying a baton in it's hand" Wolf replied, pointing out the slender silver tube clutched in the blue hands.

"How did it die?"

"Hmm, I don't know that either. But lets take it back to the Castle. It might not be completely dead, you know"

"Looks like it's wings froze. Must be even colder up there than down here" Alice continued, pointing up at the sky. Wolf followed her gaze. She was probably right, but who ever heard of it getting so cold that elves just dropped out of the sky? He covered the elf with a blanket and clucked at the pony. All of a sudden he wanted to be home before those clouds dumped more misery on the Kingdom.

There were fresh carriage tracks going down the driveway, Wolf noted as they covered the last mile. As they drew closer to the imposing Castle White, he saw a large and grandly fitted out coach with red silk banners and long red plumes attached to the horses bridles. So, Scarlett had arrived. Wendell's carrier birds had obviously gotten through to at least as far as Riding Hood Castle, although Wolf suspected that Scarlett would have turned up even if she hadn't been invited. Servants were unloading the various trunks and baggage when he drew up to the main doors. So she was already inside, thought Wolf with some relief. Perhaps he could avoid her inside the vast warren of the Castle, but somehow he doubted it. Virginia and Scarlett had become good friends during the journey back after Coven Lake. They had ridden their horses close together many times, heads close together as they whispered. Wolf had not thought to intrude on their discussions, even if the ever suspicious Red guards would have let him anywhere near their Queen, but now he fell to wondering just what they had been talking about.

Wolf gathered his stash of belongings together and helped the cubs down from the wagon. The youngsters bustled forward under the feet of the serving folk, keen to get inside. Wolf suspected they would likely head straight to the kitchens where they would be fussed over and spoiled by the good natured cook. Rupert, Wendell's castellan and friend, nodded at Wolf as he supervised the unloading of Scarlett's belongings.

"Found a frozen elf on the road a few miles back. It's in the back of the wagon" Wolf told him as he passed by. Wolf saw the man shift his attention momentarily, mentally adding the elf thawing to his list of things to do.

"That's the third one this week"

"Hmm, well this one's got a message on him. Perhaps for the King" Wolf called out over his shoulder as he made for the grand staircase and the upper levels where his and Virginia's suite was located. There was a subtle air of tension in the stance of the hurrying servants. The front doors closed with a thud, but Wolf, peering out at the weather closing in on the Castle, didn't feel as safe and secure as he once would have.

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Upstairs, in a room little used and rarely entered, Virginia was trying to concentrate. All around her, black swathes of cloth covered many tall mirrors. One mirror she knew well. The travelling mirror she and others had used regularly stood in a corner, the only one on open display. Virginia had often come to this mirror, just to turn it on and look at New York. Chaotic and dangerous place that it was, she still envied it's ignorance right now. Men with bombs, random snipers, maddened drug addicts - these were things that could be dealt with. How did one deal with an Ice Queen, of all people? What were her motives, her goals? How could such a person (if she was indeed a person) be stopped? Virginia had a sudden smile at the image of herself marching into the headquarters of the CIA. _Hi there, just a tip off. There's a woman-witch-queen-whatever, up north and she wants to send an eternal winter down upon the 9 Kingdoms. Why? Because she wants to. How, well, it seems she has found for herself a..._Virginia's thoughts were interupted by a tap on the door.

"Virginia? It's me, Wendell" the quiet voice spoke from the doorway.

"Come in, come in"

"Oh...do I have to?"

"Just a little then, if you want. Is there something you wanted from me Wendell?" Virginia asked him. He came forward a pace and then stood uneasily eyeing the covered mirrors. He was dressed in one of his many hopelessly overdone royal outfits, but he'd obviously put it together in a hurry, Virginia thought. She crossed to stand in front of him, deftly untucking and rebuttoning his lopsided jacket. Wendell blushed furiously as she tidied his appearance.

"Scarl...I mean, Queen Riding Hood the Third...has just arrived. I saw the carriage coming down the drive. I hope they didn't have to drive through all that bad weather, just to get here"

"They probably did, Wendell. I don't think the snow was confined to just our little corner of the Kingdoms"

"Yes..umm, well...I suppose I should go down and greet her" Wendell said, fidgeting.

"I think that would be the polite thing to do, don't you?" Virginia replied smoothly, trying not to laugh at his discomfort. Of course, it was no secret in Castle White anymore that the King was enamoured of the beautiful Red Queen. It had been the chief topic of discussion for the past week, and likely the same rumours were circulating Hooded Castle in the 2nd Kingdom. Virginia imagined there would be an equal amount of nervous fidgeting going on somewhere in one of the guest suites. She took Wendell's hands between her own. "Calm down Wendell. I'm sure this is just as awkward for her as for you. And remember, she is here for more reasons than simply courting. Soon, all the Kings and Queens will be here. We have some work to do yet" she added, seeing his face fall with disappointment.

"Yes, you're right of course. Still..."

"I'm sure you'll be able to find some time, alone"

"Oh please! I'm the King and she's a Queen. We're never alone, not even for a second. And now that everyone, well, knows, we'll be watched even more closely. There's a lot more involved when Kingdoms go courting than two ordinary people, you know!" Wendell said, his brow wrinkling. Virginia reached to smooth down his errant curls.

"You'll be fine, I'm sure of it. Just have patience, and belief". Wendell kissed her palm in response.

"You've become very wise, little sister. Coventina chose you for good reason" he added, backing out of the room and closing the door. Virginia fought off the tiny chill that had stolen over her at his words. Choosing had nothing to do with it, I fear, she thought uneasily. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. She felt in her pocket for the object that had come floating out of the depths of Coventina's Lake that night.

It was disc shaped, slightly concave, gleaming with a pearlescent shimmer. Virginia held it up to the light, seeing the dark shadow of her fingers through the other side. It was about the size of her palm, completely smooth and unadorned. She sat crosslegged on the floor, the disc between her hands, staring at it. What am I supposed to do with you? The disc might have thrummed softly, or it might have been her imagination. She was hungry, she realised suddenly, feeling her stomach contort. As if on cue, the door opened quietly with a snick. A plate, with thick sandwiches and two glasses of warm milk appeared, followed in short order by Wolf. He came forward, setting down the plate on the floor. One of the bacon sandwiches had a bite out of it, she saw.

"Hey there gorgeous girl. Thought you might be in here again. Thought you've probably forgotten to eat lunch again, right?" he said quickly, proferring a glass of milk. Virginia took the glass, downing the creamy contents with great delight.

"Mmm, that's good! How did the trip go? Was the house much damaged?"

"Not too bad. Covered is more the word. Took a bit to get inside. The chickens are all dead, but the sheep looked okay. The cub's built a snow-wolf" Wolf replied between bites. Virginia rubbed at his wind chapped cheeks. They finished the rest of the picnic in companionable silence. Wolf licked his fingers as he lay back on the floor. "Scarlett's here, did you know? Brought enough luggage to fill an entire room" he said, face pensive. Virginia detected the subtle unease in his voice. Well, he had no real reason to like the Queen, let alone trust her. It would be an interesting few days, especially since she and Scarlett would be spending quite a bit of it together. Virginia was glad that the once haughty nod she had been given all those months ago had been replaced by a genuine friendship. In a way, they were very much alike, and now Scarlett would be facing an uncomfortable truth just like Virginia had done once. Wolf wound one of his fingers around a lock of her hair gently. "You still here?" he asked.

"Sorry love"

"It's okay Virginia. So what's this you've got here?" Wolf asked, nodding at the disc half hidden in the folds of her skirt. Virginia hestitated a second before drawing it out. So far, no one had seen the thing but she herself. She felt protective of it suddenly. Wolf's eyes were wide as he looked at it. Almost he reached out to touch it, but held his fingertip inches away instead. "Cripes" he muttered.

"What do you mean, 'cripes'? Do you know what it is?" Virginia asked.

"It looks just like...but no, it couldn't be...just like a drawing in a book my mother once read to me...history lessons of all things"

"Like what, Wolf?"

"A scale. But not from a fish, Virginia. That looks just like a scale from a dragon"


	2. Chapter 2

The Ice Storm

_Chapter Two_

It was so...clean today. Perfect and unblemished. One could look out the high window and imagine the whole world just like this. A picture perfect landscape, bare of all the sharp, undefined shapes caused by living things - the trees, habitations of men, the tracks of wild creatures. A blank slate of a world, ready for the artists touch. Except that her step mother had never really excelled at artistry, thought the Princess. No matter. Soon, the old crone would be dead. A tear came unbidden to her cheek and she dashed it away angrily. But it was true, she loved the old woman.

"Rhoswen". The voice cut through her thoughts.

"Neva". Never 'mother', not for this woman. Rhoswen turned to see the Queen of the Eigth Kingdom enter the turret room. She was stooped, withered like an old branch. Not for the first time, Rhoswen wondered just how old the Queen was. Aged, but sharp still. Like a knife, the old woman had carved a niche in this unforgiving land. A niche that Rhoswen hoped one day to fill. But today, things were...difficult. It had been Neva's idea, at the start, to try and eliminate their main rivals before the battle. Rhoswen had found the notion distasteful at first. Unsporting really. And how could one be sure that they were eliminating the right people anyway? Hero's and heroines cropped up from nowhere all the time. This Virginia, she was too visible, already too accomplished. Surely the Kingdoms wouldn't be forced to rely on her again, if in fact they had even realised that they had done so before. Perhaps their failure to engineer the death of that woman at the bloodied claws of the monster wolf might prove uneventful, the Princess found herself hoping. And yet, for someone who had saved a greater part of the nobility of the Kingdoms, this woman Virginia Lewis certainly lived a mediocre life. She should have been feted. Princes and Kings should have vied for her hand. But she had settled for a quiet life, and Rhoswen had always distrusted those who dropped off the map.

The Princess went to the ice gilded window again. Would that she have had the _sight_, alone and untainted by the power. Still, there was little to be accomplished by avoiding pain simply for the sake of mortal comfort. Neva coughed, a gasping, ragged sound in the silence of the chamber. Rhoswen felt her own lungs twitch in sympathy, but she steadfastly refused to acknowledge her own brand of discomfort. She waited until her step-mother had regained her breath.

"You needn't have come all this way up those stairs, Neva. I have already received the tidings from the scouts"

"Really? And how did you come to know them?"

"You know how" Rhoswen answered, turning to face her step-mother Queen. Neva's face was as pale as it ever was, except for two spots of colour high on her cheeks.

"Dangerous, my Princess"

"Needful. That woman, Virginia Lewis, has returned to Castle White. Soon, I suspect she will endeavour to alert the other rulers. One has already arrived there, just this day"

"Which one?"

"The Queen of the Northern Second Kingdom. Scarlett, or whatever her name is. Now, how she came to be involved at the Coven Lake fiasco, I've no idea, but she interests me"

"She does? Why is that?" Neva asked, in a matter-of fact manner that very nearly went unnoticed by Rhoswen. The Princess drew her pale blond brows together in thought. What does my interest in that little Queen mean to Neva? But years of living and dealing with the oft called "Ice Queen" had taught Rhoswen to be cautious.

"I've seen her. Twice now, she has strayed into my visions"

"You didn't tell me this before, Princess"

"I had not thought it important until now. Do you think it meaningful, Neva?" Rhoswen asked, not nearly as subtle in fishing for information as her step-mother. She watched the lined face close in on itself, and fought the urge to sigh aloud in defeat. Sometimes all the plotting and plans were like a giant spiderweb spread out over the sky. And in the centre, Neva, holding the threads taut, manipulating and testing each strand as it hummed and spun through space and time. Rhoswen had a priveleged position, she knew, but it could just as easily be taken away. Keep your secrets then, old witch, she thought.

"I don't think her dangerous in herself, if that's what you mean, daughter. But, those who rally behind her are many"

"Weaklings all. They will have their hands too full in coming weeks, I'm sure, to bother about us overmuch. And once midwinter night has passed, it will be too late. For all of them"

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Scarlett paced the floor. The soft carpets muffled her impatient feet. More nervous than impatient, Scarlett, she reminded herself with a wry smile. She'd been smiling a great deal in the past week or so. Even the horrid spell of weather they had travelled through to get here had not dampened her mood. Only her mother, the former Queen Auburn, had managed to halt her wayward dreams in their tracks. Scarlett sat down heavily in one of the padded armchairs. So much to unburden, so much to tell. All the darkest secrets of her family were now hers to deal with. Auburn had returned to her estate and had steadfastly refused to leave it since. Scarlett had let her be, eventually. There was no sense in dragging her mother to and fro against her will.

There was a polite tap on the door. Scarlett's maid went to answer it. Scarlett could tell by the restrained giggle from the maid just who had come calling. Still, a chuckle from a serving maid was better than many other reactions she had received since the rumours had started. Just. She stood, wanting to meet him on her feet this time. Wendell stood at the doorway. One look at him told her much. As fidgety and nervous as me, she thought.

"Queen Scarlett Riding Hood" he said, fomally, affecting a small bow. Scarlett took her cue from him.

"King Wendell White" she responded, sweeping her hand gracefully along the hem of her gown. A greeting between equals. It was important, for propriety and for future negotiations. He came into the room to lift her hand and kiss it. Scarlett thought he lingered just a fraction too long, but she let her eyes tell him that she didn't mind at all. Besides, many had seen a far more intimate kiss between them, on the morning of their last day together, when she had ridden back to Hooded City. Her lips tingled with the memory of it. Wendell released her hand and took a hesitant step backwards.

"It has been too long since Castle White has been graced with your beauty, Queen Scarlett". It was a very bold statement, thought Scarlett, hearing the indrawn breath of her two maids. She bobbed her head in response, trying to hide her flaming cheeks. Almost as if he read her hidden discomfort, he withdrew a little more. "If it would please my Lady Queen, I have organised a welcome feast in your honour. The great hall will be made ready, and you would do me great honour to attend". Scarlett could only bob her head again, speechless now. Behind her, the maids now chortled openly. _My Lady Queen_. Did he really call me that? The whole room seemed to blur and spin. A quiet click of the door, and he was gone. The maids came forward to help her to a chair. One of them fussed about, released the laces on her bodice. Suddenly, her head cleared.

"Really, my Lady! He certainly seems taken with you. But you're not going to get far unless you remember one important thing!"

"What's that, Sal?" Scarlett asked distractedly.

"Breathe, my Lady! You must remember to breathe!"

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Wendell had certainly pulled out all the stops in organising the dinner, thought Virginia as she descended the stairs. It was very nearly as lavish a set up as his Coronation Feast had been. The nobles of his court, recently recalled from their estates and manors, were gathered around the large open fireplace. Standing at the mantle was Queen Scarlett herself, a beautiful ruby red gown draping her slender figure. Even without her title, her status, she would have dominated the group, Virginia realised. The nobles hung on her every word as she recounted her recent journey through her Kingdom and her recovery from her injuries. But it was a vastly abridged tale, Virginia suspected. Just the bare bones, no motives, no discoveries, no hint at what really lay ahead.

Virginia looked for Wendell, seeing him trying unsuccessfully to blend in with his nobles and courtiers as he listened to Scarlett. He was doing his best to keep a neutral expression on his face, but it kept slipping. Many pairs of eyes went to and fro between the two rulers, some suspicious, some happy, others merely speculative. Someone breathed down her neck and she fought not to jump so obviously.

"You look beautiful, my creamy dreamy mate" Wolf whispered in her ear.

"Why thank you. Don't look so bad yourself" she responded. Which was true. He cut as fine a figure as always in his dark suit and tails. "Did Caelum settle down?"

"Yes, they're both with Elsie. So we can have the whole night to ourselves"

"You're insatiable!"

"Yes, I know. Hmm, do you think Wendell and Scarlett might...you know..."

"Of course not! Not in a million years would their respective advisors leave them alone long enough!" Virginia replied, blushing at the thought.

"Ah, pity. She's fertile tonight too..."

"Wolf!"

"Sorry, but I can't help it! It's just the way us wolfies think" Wolf whispered, but Virginia thought he looked anything but sorry. She took his hand and ushered him down to the floor level before any passing servant might hear what they were talking about. On cue, the bell rang, signalling the arrival of the first course, capturing Wolf's attention immediately. Wendell himself came forward to escort her to her seat.

"How am I doing?" he whispered.

"Oh fine, just fine" Virginia replied, patting his hand. Wendell had seated her directly opposite Scarlett and himself. Wolf slid in beside her, his plate already loaded. He never bothered to wait until everyone else had been served. Virginia fought down a smile at Scarlett's expression. She could see the Queen looking sideways at other diners, none of which made the slightest indication that they thought Wolf's dining behaviour odd. He had been a guest often enough at the great table that even his snapping of leg bones as he was doing now drew no particular attention. But it was obvious that the fastidious Scarlett had never seen such a display before. After a long minute, Scarlett seemed to relax a little and picked up her own fork and knife, daintily cutting up her own food.

Several courses later, after Wolf had devoured his way through almost an entire sheep, Virginia was pleased to see that Scarlett had gotten so used to his table manners that she was even smiling at him in genuine humour. From time to time. Whenever her attention was not on Wendell. Heads close together, they had whispered to each other many times, using the cover of dining room clatter to avoid being overheard.

It was as the final course was being served that one of Wendell's guardsmen entered the hall. He had clearly come from the outside without even stopping to brush the snow from his boots. Virginia watched as he wound his way through the crowd of butlers and maids to the King's side, bending to whisper in his ear. Virginia pulled at Wolf's sleeve.

"What's he saying? The guard, what's he saying to Wendell?" she asked him, knowing that even across a noisy table his superior hearing would be able to pick up the conversation. Wolf turned to her, his voice low.

"Something about a messenger, no, an emissary...from the Eigth Kingdom. Demanding an audience right now...won't wait" he breathed. Virginia watched Wendell's face closely. Even though she had warned him that such a thing might happen, he looked both surprised and curious. He glanced across the table to her. Virginia nodded slowly. Yes, let the emissary come. It would be beneficial for the nobles and courtiers of the Kingdom to hear it firsthand anyway. Wendell turned back to his guardsman and the soldier hurried away. Wendell stood, unease radiating from his stance. Very surreptiously, Virginia saw Scarlett squeeze his hand under the table as he waited for the room to fall silent. He straightened his back.

"My good people. It seems we must endure a brief disruption to our feast. My men tell me that we have...a visitor...a messenger come from the Eigth Kingdom". The room buzzed with speculation. Virginia listened to some of it. _The Eigth Kingdom? Never in my lifetime have we seen anyone from there! Wonder what she wants this time? Pity that my cousin couldn't be here to see this! _The gossip stopped abruptly as the double doors were thrown open by two of the guards. Many more guards swarmed into the room, surrounding a tall figure swathed in white who walked forward unconcernedly. With her view half blocked by Wolf, Virginia strove to get a good look at the intruder. There was sudden vibration in the air, and Virginia realised that Wolf was growling in that almost unheard range that only another wolf might hear. As the visitor swung his gaze over the room, settling for a second too long on Wolf, Virginia realised that that was exactly what _he_ was.

He was tall, cloaked and booted in white wool and leather. As he threw his hood back, Virginia could see a long swathe of rich white hair, so fine that it almost looked like fur, cascading down across his shoulders. Given the bulky appearance of his clothing, Virginia guessed that perhaps his whole back was covered in it. His face was pale, with dark blue veins standing out at the temples. His eyes were a piercing blue as they scanned the crowd. All in all, am imposing and impressive figure. The Ice Queen had chosen well to send him, she thought.

"My name is Yacobe. I have come alone and unarmed. I intend no harm" the man spoke. His voice was powerful as he intoned the words in a ritualistic fashion.

"Speak, Yacobe". It was Wendell, and Virginia was pleased to hear the young King's voice as equally strong. Yacobe inclined his head towards him.

"King Wendell, I bring a message from My Lady Queen of the Eigth Kingdom"

"I will hear it"

"King Wendell of the 4th Kingdom. Hear my words! I, Queen Neva of the 8th Kingdom, do hereby make war upon you! For too long, you and yours have settled and grown fat from the lands, rivers and forests of the 4th Kingdom. For too long, you have refused my entreaties. For too long your people have lived in the sunlight. No more! This spell of snow and sorrow that I have sent upon you in this week is but a taste of what is to come. By midwinter's night you will surrender your castle, your Kingship and your subjects to me and mine. In return, I will let your people live. Resist me, and I will freeze you into eternity"

There was a frozen silence in the hall, almost as if the messengers words were a spell themselves. Virginia felt ill, like all the food she had just consumed had formed a ball of ice in her stomach. But it was also a relief, she had to admit. So, the Ice Queen had played her hand at last. Years and years of plotting, scheming and tapping the hidden power had come to fulfillment. The things that Virginia had seen in the last Mirror of Coventina were going to come to fruition sooner than she had hoped. As for the Ice Queen's motives, well, if there was one thing that Virginia had learned about the Kingdoms it was the simple fact that evil needed none. There would be no questions, no attempt to find the hidden excuses behind the Ice Queen's behaviour. Evil was a given thing, and the people of the Fourth Kingdom had felt it's keen edge before.

"Then we will all freeze together, and your evil mistress will inherit a kingdom of corpses". Virginia was jolted back to reality by Wendell's response. Was that really his voice, so cold and brittle? The coutiers and noblemen and women at the table took their cue from Wendell, and Virginia watched as one by one they mimicked his hard stare towards the stranger. The man-wolf Yacobe seemed unconcerned by the reaction. He was playing a role, no more, and only a fool would have expected Wendell to truly accede to the demands. He bowed forward at the waist just a little as he spoke.

"I will convey your words, House Of White. You will see me again, I warrant" he said crisply. Wendell nodded at his guards and they fell back to allow the messenger access from the hall. He clicked the heels of his boots together as he turned to go. Once more his gaze flew across the crowd to settle on Wolf. For a second, Virginia felt an icy chill as he appeared to look directly at her, a subtle smile on his lips. Wolf's growling increased so that even the human's nearby must have heard it, but he kept his seat as the stranger departed.

Slowly, life and movement returned to the room. Wendell continued standing, but his face was deviod of the coldness Virginia had just seen. Now, he looked down at the vast array with sadness.

"We should have not celebrated ourselves so well tonight" he said solemnly. "This fine food would be better spent in preparation. Soon, we may need all the feast just to survive"


	3. Chapter 3

The Ice Storm

_Chapter Three._

With much whispering and worried stares, Scarlett's welcome feast had finally broken up. Upstairs, in their suite of rooms, Virginia was watching Wolf pace back and forth across the carpet. He was still bristling, all the hair on his neck and hackles standing to attention. He'd left the hall shortly after the emissary had departed and had only just returned. Clearly he had been outside, probably making sure the stranger had really left, Virginia thought. She put out a hand to stop his pacing, drawing him down to sit with her on the sofa.

"Wolf, stop to-ing and fro-ing. You're making me dizzy!" she said, patting down his back crest. He smiled at her, but his thoughts were far away.

"Sorry, lamb"

"It's okay. Tell me about this 'messenger' that's gotten you so worked up. He was a wolf, wasn't he?"

"Oh yes, he is a wolf certainly, but a ghost wolf, Virginia"

"A ghost wolf?"

"Yes. It's been many many generations since one has been seen outside of the Eigth Kingdom"

"Tell me about them"

"Well, they are a northern kindred to what most folk would call my people. They broke away from the main family lines and disappeared into the snowy wastes. This is a thing that has happened before amongst our kind, that's why wolf's from the south might look and behave a little different from wolf's of the northern or eastern Kingdoms. But we're all still wolf's together, you know?"

"Yes, I understand. In the Tenth Kingdom, wolf's live on two different continents, Europe and North America. They have been so long apart that they have some differences, but they're still the same species"

"Thats it, just the same with us. Anyway, as I said, very little contact has been made with those who went to live in the snow. They all have this white fur, like other creatures of that landscape. They are very strong, capable, fierce fighters. After a few generations, we began to call them 'ghost wolf's' because of the fur and the way they could suddenly seem to appear from nowhere"

"And now it seems they have allied themselves with the Ice Queen"

"That's the strangest part, Virginia. I can't imagine why they would do that. No wolf community would form itself into such a unified front, especially for the human cause of world domination!" Wolf replied with heat. Virginia almost laughed. Well, he was right on one account. World domination was indeed a very human cause. She reached to caress the worry line between his brows and she felt him relax under her touch.

"You didn't like him being here, did you? As a wolf, I mean. Was it like he was invading your territory? Even if he had come on good terms, would it have been that way?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so my dear. I suppose I've come to think of this great pile of stone as my patch. Huh, who would have guessed it? Besides, I didn't like the way he looked at you, Virginia"

"He just glanced at me"

"With his eyes maybe, but with his whole body and all his other senses, he _stared_ at you"

"I think you imagined it, Wolf" Virginia responded, but she was unsure suddenly. Wolf shook his head, with a great yawn settling over him. He looked tired, Virginia thought.

"Go to sleep. Tomorrow, if the snow stops, I want to go see Hera again" she said, kissing his stubble covered cheek.

"Very well love" Wolf said, pulling off his boots and tossing clothes all over the floor. Soon, he stood naked in front of their small fireplace. He lifted his grey flecked tail to comb out the knots and kinks in it. "Hope my winter coat grows in soon. I actually felt cold out there today!" His eyes ran over her suggestively.

"I'll join you later Wolf. I want to go for a walk. All that rich food has upset my stomach I think" Virginia said, knowing it to be true. She did feel ill. Silently she wondered if the pregnancy could be making her sick, but it was too soon yet. Besides, she'd hardly felt any morning sickness with Caelum. Wolf raised his eyebrows at her, but did not comment as he slid into their giant feather stuffed bed. Virginia doubted that he would be asleep when she returned, no matter how tired he was.

On the way back downstairs she passed both Wendell's and Scarlett's doors, both well attended by guards and servants. At this late hour, the common rooms and corridors were all but deserted, dim torchlight flickering over the walls graced with portraits. Virginia stopped to look at a painting of Snow-white holding her son on her lap. A passing maid stopped to enquire if Virginia needed anything.

"Thank you, but I can fetch for myself. But I am thirsty. Is there any juice still in the kitchens?". After following the maid to the vast kitchen, Virginia took her tall glass to the back doorway to look out on the night. Snow covered gardens and pathways led in all directions, broken up only by hedges and stone walls. For the first time in weeks, the moon shone down from breaks in the cloud cover. Virginia found herself wandering the paths. Wendell's rose arbour was one of her favourite places, but now the long stems groaned under the weight of the ice clinging to them. Putting down her empty glass, Virginia brushed away the snow from the roses, looking on with pleasure as the great blooms sprang back to colour and life under her touch. It was strangely symbolic, Virginia thought. Let the Ice Queen dump as much killing snow as she liked. Underneath there would always be survivors, even if they were only humble roses.

The near silent crunch betrayed him, or perhaps he had meant for her to hear it. In the corner of her vision, only the pale gleam of his eyes gave his position away. He was close enough that Virginia could feel the warm gusts of his breath. Virginia saw that he had shed his long cloak and hood, along with his boots. Instead, he wore barely anything at all, just a simple loincloth of leather into which were stowed several implements. The white hair that had stood out so starkly in Wendell's ballroom flowed down to mingle with white fur that covered his whole back and most of his legs and arms. As she looked into his all too human face, Virginia saw that the blue irises of his eyes were bordered by a bright gold circle. In many ways, he looked more 'wolf' than her Wolf. Yacobe inclined his head towards her, breaking the almost hypnotic trance Virginia had fallen into.

"So, it is true" he said, so quietly that Virginia barely heard him. Virginia herself was beyond words. He reached for her hand, catching it easily despite her trying to pull away. He brought it close to his face and Virginia wondered if he would bite her. But he only held it to his nose. When he released her hand, Virginia sprang backwards as though released by a catapult. She stumbled into the rose bushes, felt them catch her fall. A stray beam of moonlight, escaping the clouds, shone down into the garden. Virginia was sorely tempted to scream as sudden bands of pain encircled her, but her breath was being constricted to tiny gasps. Yacobe stepped back himself now, his eye's narrowing in what looked like alarm. "Ah..sss...get you inside, at once!" he spoke rapidly, gesturing at the ground. Virginia followed his gaze, seeing then the blood. Great fat drops of blood steaming in the snow.

"Wha..." she gasped finally. Yacobe shook his head. Then he stepped back again and lifted his head to howl. There was instant commotion from within the Castle. Across the gardens, lights suddenly came on in many windows. Yacobe came forward to kneel in the slush before her. He reached to touch her brow lightly.

"Farewell, beloved of Lucine" he said, simply and yet with many hidden undertones. Virginia, breathing around the pain, managed to nod her head at the strange wolf. Then, he was simply gone, melting away into the darkness, barely a trace to show his passage. Running feet came towards her, men with torches hurrying to and fro. A dark figure sprang out. Virginia had been lifted before she had time to recognize Willem as her rescuer. He bore her away towards the Castle. Looking back over his shoulder, Virginia saw the trail of blood she left behind them.

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Wendell tied the belt of his nightrobe tightly around his waist one more time. His fingers found a stray thread and pulled it loose absently. Not for the first time in an hour, he cursed the fact that he had been born a man. But behind those closed doors, no man, not even a King, would ever be admitted. Wolf, sitting crosslegged on the floor directly opposite the doors had been surprisingly mute through the whole unpleasant ordeal. But then he could likely hear all the conversation anyway. Beside Wendell, his castellan Rupert shifted his weight from foot to foot. Wendell had dismissed all but Rupert from his side once it was known Virginia had been found. Tony sat slumped in a chair a little way up the hall.

That howl an hour ago had woken all the wolfen people in the Castle. Wendell had sat up in his bed in alarm. Someone had been pounding on his door. Virginia was outside. Virginia was in trouble! Guards had roused themselves, but it was a wolf that had found her. Willem, running through the dim corridors, the small form of Virginia in his arms.

"Send for the midwife!" was all that he had said to Wendell. For a moment, Wendell had stood confused. A midwife? But Virginia was not due for many months yet. Then he realised, but wished he had not. Suddenly, Willem had been swarmed by women from all sides. Midwives, old crones, maids and even Queens. Scarlett had looked at him blankly as the doors swung closed behind her. That had been an hour ago. Wolf had appeared, all his teeth showing and half dressed, but he had quieted at his brother's soft words. Now he sat, mostly silent but for his lips moving from time to time. Wendell wondered if he prayed, and to whom.

Suddenly Wolf sat foward intently. The door swung back and an old midwife, the very one who had delivered Wendell, in fact, came out hestitantly. She bobbed her head to Wendell.

"She has lost some blood, your Majesty. It happens sometimes"

"And the...?" Wendell couldn't say it aloud all of a sudden.

"I feel the babe is safe, your Majesty. The bleeding and the pain have stopped, quite quickly, so she has a good chance of delivering a healthy infant come summer time. But we will have to wait out the next few days to be sure, your Majesty" she continued. Wendell felt the tingle of warmth coming back into his cheeks at the news. So, all was not lost, just yet. Wolf was on his feet now, but he waited for the midwife's nod before he pushed past her into the room. Wendell spoke to the old woman.

"My thanks to you, good woman"

"Nay, in truth I could have done little for her had the time come, your Majesty. But I will certainly advise her and care for her. There are many things that can help a woman with a hasty babe in the womb. I will stay close by, if you wish it"

"I do, and thank you again. Ah, please, was the Lady Virginia injured in some way? You know, that might have caused this? I understand that she was accosted in the garden by that so called 'emissary' of the Ice Queen. Did he...do anything to her?"

"No, your Majesty. She seems unhurt, just a few scratches from the roses. He didn't harm her, and she has said as much to me" the woman said, yawning and rubbing her wrinkled hands. Wendell dismissed her with a bow, making her blush with pleasure. When she had gone, he turned to Will, who had remained outside the room.

"Hmm, what do you make of this?"

"The way's of ghost wolf's are strange, Wendell. I cannot presume to guess what he might have wanted, nor why he would risk so much to approach her. We can only be glad that he did not harm her, as he could so easily have done"

"Is he gone from here, do you think?"

"Yes, I would say so. He has delivered his 'messages'. I had to get Virginia back to the Castle, so I could not spend the time to track him, and now he has a good lead, even for a wolf" Will replied. Wendell glanced over at Tony, meeting his eyes, then back to Wolf's brother.

"Do you think you could track such a creature?" he asked Will.

"Certainly. He has a way to go before he reaches his home territory, and I can move just as swiftly"

"Good. Then, if you feel up to it, I think you should do just that. I want to know more about these white wolf's. If the Ice Queen is seeking to use them as her army, then the more we know about their habits and numbers the better for us. And yet, if they are her soldiers, surely Virginia would be lying torn to pieces tonight, and I don't why that is. I cannot doubt that the Ice Queen knows about Virginia and her status in the Kingdoms. To lose her would be a blow to us, and not just because we love her".

"I will do it. It will only take a short while to prepare. I think I should go alone, but I am concerned to leave my cub alone"

"I'm sure Wolf and Virginia will look after her, and I'll see to it personally that she is protected. But I don't like to send you into danger Willem. I don't like sending anyone, and you're only recently recovered from that arrow wound". Will raised the bandaged hand and waved it around. Wendell felt sure that Wolf's older brother had a certain mischievious gleam in his eyes and he was reminded of the well documented wolfish love of adventure and sneakiness. No doubt the ghost wolf Yacobe had enjoyed his role in the escapade just as much.

Wendell nodded briefly and stepped back as Will hurried away to make his preparations. Interesting questions indeed. And perhaps the Ice Queen had just as many questions for her servant Yacobe.


	4. Chapter 4

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Four

Wolf watched the red disc of the sun rise over the orchards. From his spot at the windowsill the sun seemed weak, too small to make any visible difference to the frozen world. His ears caught the reassuring sound of Virginia breathing deeply, resting after last night's ordeal.

_"Wolves awake! To the garden! To the roses!". _Wolf shivered as he remembered the ghost wolf's howl. Instant panic, instant adrenalin. On the cusp of sleep himself, at first he had thought it a dream. But he had known it was about Virginia. Something in his northern cousin's tone had given it away. Cursing, he'd stumbled through the rooms and corridors, vision blurred red from rage. And yet Will had found her first. Good, calm brother, scooping her out of the snow and into safety. But for all that, had she really been in danger? Wolf scratched at his head. No sense came to him. There was a faint rumble outside the door.

"Come" Wolf rumbled back. Quick as a silent shadow, Will slipped through the door. He went first to Virginia, bending to inhale her scent.

"Ah, good. The babe is still within her" he whispered across the bed. Wolf smiled a little in agreement. Whilst the human midwife had still stood wringing her hands a while ago, unsure how things would progress, Wolf had known already. The gestation hormones left a woman's body very soon after a miscarriage. Virginia still smelt strong and healthy, and very pregnant. There had been no more bleeding, nor pain. A close call, for all of them. Will came to stand next to him in the window.

"I didn't thank you, last night, I think" Wolf murmured to his brother.

"Actually, you did"

"I don't remember"

"No matter. Wolf, Wendell has asked me to track this wolf, and I agree it would be a useful thing. There are many things I want to know about this Yacobe and his pack. If they are our enemies..."

"Or not"

"Exactly. He could have killed her outright, if he'd had a mind too. He risked an awful lot just to hang around waiting to...what? Talk to her? Easier ways to go about that than snooping around the Castle in the middle of the night"

"Hmm, when Virginia wakes, we can ask her what he said" Wolf replied, hearing just at that very moment a change in her breathing.

"Virginia _is_ awake. Stop whispering by the window and come over here, you two". Her voice was tired, but as strong and determined as it ever was. Wolf bounded to the bedside and sat down on the floor by her hand.

"How are you feeling Virginia?"

"Tired. A little sore...but Wolf..."

"It's fine. So far, it's fine. The baby I mean"

"You're sure?"

"Yes". Wolf said, kissing her hand. His own hand he snuck under the covers to caress her stomach. He saw tears start in her eyes and looked away a moment. After a minute she had composed herself and lay back amongst the pillows.

"I'm not sure what happened out there. One minute, we're standing eye to eye, and I'm wondering if he's going to kill me, the next I've got this horrible pain and he's calling for help. It was a call for help, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yes, he led us straight to you, more or less" Will said from the window.

"But what did he do, what did he say to you, Virginia?" Wolf said, trying to keep his rising anger from spilling over again. Virginia wound her fingers through his. She was so tiny, defenceless almost...

"He just sniffed at my hand and then he said 'so, it's true'. That was all. When he left, he called me 'beloved of Lucine', I think". Wolf almost flinched at the mention of the Moon Goddess' name. One did not use Her true name, usually, unless one wanted to get Her specific attention. And the attentions of the Moon Goddess were not always beneficial. Virginia had apparently met the Goddess in Coventina's cavern, so _she_ had some right to address Lucine by her name, thought Wolf unhappily. But how the stranger wolf would know to call a human 'beloved of Lucine' was a mystery. Wolf looked askance at Virginia. Her eyes were closed in thought. To him, she looked just as she ever was, but had he been missing something? He was reminded of that moment when he had first seen after she had emerged from the Lake. Luminous, brimming with power. Was she somehow still retaining some of this power, visible now to those who had skill or gift to see it? What had gone on in that cavern beneath the waters?

There was another tap at the door, and a now familiar scent flowing under it. Queen Scarlett entered, her bearing still giving away the fact that she was still rather timid in entering a room with wolf's in it. Wolf snorted under his breath at the obvious foolishness of that, but held his tongue at a look from Virginia. But he didn't get up from the floor, nor bow like Will had done.

"Are you well, Virginia?" she asked, apparently deciding to ignore Wolf at her feet.

"Yes, much better Scarlett. And thank you for staying with me. It meant a lot" Virginia answered.

"Ah well, yes, you're welcome. It's the least I could do. Not that I know much about...umm...you know" Scarlett stammered back. Wolf sniffed secretly at the hem of her robe. Well, true enough. She hadn't lain with Wendell last night after all. Wolf wondered if she guessed just how much he knew about her.

"Virginia, Will is going to track this Yacobe. I think it's a good idea, don't you?" he asked her.

"We need to find out what the ghost wolf's are planning, whose side they're on, or even if they have a side" Will added.

"I don't know if the ghost wolf's are all that we should be worrying about" Virginia said. "The Ice Queen has far more lethal methods at her disposal to throw at us, I'm sure" she added.

"I still don't understand why a wolf community would do the bidding of the Ice Queen anyway. It's so...unnatural" Wolf said. From his position on the floor between them, he did not miss the look that now passed from Virginia to Scarlett. He could see the Queen's fists clenched tightly within her long sleeves. Interesting, he thought. So, they had a secret, these two. But their faces gave nothing away now. Clammed up as tight as only two women could be. Wolf sighed but decided to let it pass. For now anyway. Virginia needed to rest, though it was unlikely that she would for very long. Maybe she had been hoping the cub had been lost after all. He looked closely at her face, watching her every careful movement as she rose from the bed. She went slowly, gingerly, and Wolf felt ashamed that he had doubted her. Scarlett brought her a gown and helped her settle into a chair by the window.

Another quiet tap at the door announced Tony. Will went to let him in. The lines on the older man's face showed he hadn't gotten much sleep last night.

"Hey honey" he asked Virginia awkwardly.

"Hi Dad, come sit down. Everything's fine, really"

"I was so worried about you, Virginia. Now, I know you hate this sort of fuss, but really, you must take it easy for a while. Let other people help you with things. Nothing's more important than you staying well right now"

"I know, Dad". Wolf heard the hidden steel in her voice. Then he heard her sigh as she relented a little. "Actually, I had this idea, and I could use your help to do it, Dad"

"Tell me. You know I'll do anything!"

"Really? You know, it's gonna be a tricky thing. I don't even know if it will work"

"Whatever it is, I'll make it work. I didn't spend all those years tinkering and patching up that falling down apartment of Murrays without learning how to keep things working!"

Wolf watched Virginia's expression, certain she was trying not to smile too broadly. "Ah yes, the Murrays" she said to her father. "Funny you should mention them."

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Something had changed. She had almost woken just then. She recalled doing the very same thing not so long ago. Something was touching her. Her supple skin, ever sensitive despite the protection that her nature provided it, vibrated again. Yes, there it was, again. It was annoying. It...tickled. Conscious thought, so dangerous, formed in her mind. She should look, see what it was that touched her so. Hmm, to look, one must open an eye, perhaps even two, she thought. Just a crack then.

It was a man thing. Or at least, it had been once. Now, it was lodged up against her foot. It's puny arms and legs, bereft of the false armour that men usually wore, floated in the current. Something was stuck in the man things throat. Bare light from above glistened on the silver tip. An arrow! Many years since she had seen one of those accursed things. Were men now using them on each other, now that they had driven all before their rule? The thing nudged her again. Something would have to be done.

Her foot raised slightly, just enough to let the man thing slip under the shadow of it. She was careful to avoid the arrow tip as she settled her weight on the body, feeling the soft crack of bones. The arrow tip scraped, making a sharp grinding noise in the gloom. Scraped? No deep mud anymore, to cover a corpse and a mired dragon? Under her body, the bed she rested on was icy and hard now. What a bother. But really, was it? Dreams were played out in the mind of the sleeper, not the cold reality. And dreams, blessed dreams, were all she had left to her. Dreams of flight, freedom, love...and the sacred fire.

Her thoughts dwindled away into darkness, and she slept on.


	5. Chapter 5

The Ice Storm

_Chapter Five_

Wendell tried not to show his nervousness as he waited for the carriage to draw up to the great front doors of his Castle. A rider had come early this morning to announce that Queen Cinderella of the First Kingdom would be arriving within the hour. Startled a moment from the news, Wendell had had an awful moment of panic. Cinderella? What was she doing here? Then he remembered himself. Of course, silly! I invited her! Yes, that was it. Virginia, dear Virginia had asked him to send out messengers the very day after they had returned from the Second Kingdom. He had managed to shut his gaping mouth before Cinderella's escort had taken insult, at least.

Now, at the head of a honour guard that streamed down to meet the arriving coach (it was carved in the shape of a giant pumpkin, of course) he was pleased that his manservant Rupert had at least tricked him out in the finest of Fourth Kingdom regalia. Wendell had little memory to go by when imagining the Great Cinderella. In his dog form he had watched the Prince imposter lead the ageing Queen on to the dance floor. So close, so strange the imposter had been. How could Cinderella not have seen it? Perhaps she really was failing, in health and in mind, as the court gossips so loved to whisper. Wendell trembled a little at the thought. Impossible, but with her eventual death, be it sooner rather than later, the last of the Great Women would be lost to the Kingdoms. In his mind she spun awkwardly across the floor in the dog Prince's arms. And there, in the background, rather impatiently waiting it seemed, a flash of red cloak. Wendell watched as his memory replayed Scarlett. In hindsight, it was so obvious that even then she looked on him with approval. The stupid dog Prince hadn't even guessed. And Scarlett, poor deceived Queen, what a shock it must have been, to wake from the stupor of the drugged wine, to find herself overlooked by the man she wanted, so ecstatic had he been to regain his true form!

And how stupid had _he_ been then, to have let her go forth without even properly meeting. She and her advisors had swept from the Castle within days of his official crowning and his wolf pardoning. Wendell had barely given it a second thought at the time. His doggy memories had been hazy then. Only later, in the darkness of his cold suite, had he started to remember her. On the very edges of his thoughts she floated. But how she must hate and despise him now, for his brave proclamation. He had made her family's ancient enemy into heroes. She would get over him, surely. But it was only on the edge of Coven Lake, more than a year later, that he had known otherwise. And how his own heart had leapt at the thought, despite the profound guilt that plagued it. Such a humbling and exilarating feeling all at once, to be loved. But, careful now, Wendell. Go slowly, go quietly. That advice, from Tony of all people! Who'd have thought it? But he'd been right. She had been as skittish and shy as a new fawn, but still so much a Queen, headstrong and proud. Wendell remembered the first time she had looked at him as her true love, all her barriers coming down, and she wondering at herself as much as at him. What a vision she had been; swathed in red silk cape and hood, delicate features peering through the morning mist as her horse snorted and pranced to be away...

"Ahem...". Wendell snapped his gaping mouth shut so hard he winced at the sharp pain in his tongue. Queen Cinderella stood there, right in front of him. She looked stern, but her eyes twinkled. Someone pinched his elbow. Rupert, ever fussy and a stickler for protocol, that man, but Wendell loved him like a brother. The pinch brought him back to the present. "hmm...yes, as I was saying, Wendell, did you know that for the very first time in living memory, snow has covered the gables on my Glass Palace? Imagine that!" Cinderella continued, apparently deciding to ignore Wendell's gaffe. Wendell nodded his head politety, indeed trying to imagine snow covering something he had only ever seen in paintings. Of course it was not truly a palace of glass as was often the rumour amongst the peasantry, but it did have a great many tall windows in many colours. But it had never really snowed in the First Kingdom, that he knew for certain. For it to do so now worried Wendell immensely. The Ice Queen had not been bluffing, apparently.

"Queen Cinderella" he managed finally, flourishing a great bow towards her. Her feet, wrinkled and misshapen from the years of wearing those infamous slippers, were encased in dainty soft boots to match her sea green dress. A long fur wrap covered her shoulders. Belatedly, he realised that she was shivering from cold, and in fact, so was he himself. A guard mumured and stamped his feet, his breath blowing away in a great cloud of steam.

"Your Majesties..." began Rupert, teeth chattering.

"Yes, yes, forgive me...please, Queen Cinderella, do come inside, and all of you, don't spend any longer out here than you have to" Wendell broke in, turning to offer Cinderella his arm. Once up the stairs, the doors gave way and thudded closed behind them. Wendell led Cinderella to the nearest fireplace and together they stood huddled. But it burned only fitfully, and whatever warmth the logs generated seemed to be stolen back into the chilled air. Wendell held his hands as close to the flames as he dared. "By the stars! Has she somehow managed to creep so far into our lives now that even the very air seems frozen?" he muttered. At his side, Cinderella put one of her aged hands on his arm. Her eyes held no sparkle now.

"It seems that she has, Wendell, she has done that very thing".

That night, and into the following days, the first of the refugees arrived at the Castle White.

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Tony scratched at his balding head once more. In the cluttered workroom he had recently taken over, several of his 'workers', the one's assigned to him by Wendell, unconsciously imitated his stance. Overhead, the floorboards creaked as someone stomped across. Everyone was tense these days. Cross and angry, cooped up in freezing pile of stone, badgering for positon at the fireplaces. Not that burning wood seemed to help much. Woollen and fur garments were worth more than gold at the moment. Even Wolf had muttered that very morning that he'd caught someone looking with more interest than was prudent at his long tail of rich fur. Wolf himself didn't seem to feel the cold anyway, Tony had noticed, and neither did the little cubs. Tony had seen them this morning, gambolling about the frozen garden whilst everyone else stuffed their hands deep into pockets and drew scarves close.

In the week since the arrival of the Ice Queen's message and Virginia's incident in the rose garden, Tony had been working diligently on his 'project'. When Virginia had told him her idea, he'd at first thought it impossible. But as the week had progressed and the worktable in his room had become cluttered with diagrams and models, Tony began to think that it just might work. A week ago, though, both he and Virginia had assumed that there would be much more time to prepare. Surely the worst of the freezing cold would not descend on the Kingdoms for at least another month, or more. It was still only autumn here, after all. But autumn had finished this week, it appeared. It had hardly stopped snowing since, and every night the snow froze over, forming a layer of ice. Black clouds covered the sky in all directions. Tony couldn't work out why the Ice Queen would go to such lengths to cripple the Kingdoms, since it seemed more than likely she would inherit a barren lifeless waste. Maybe that was what she wanted. Perhaps her own people, of whom little was known, could survive here when all else failed.

Tony sighed and looked over his plans once more. His main problem was the Castle itself. No one seemed to have an accurate plan of the place. According to Wendell, it had been built some two hundred years ago, with a great deal of magic involved to boot. From his own experiences of living in the palace, Tony knew that the rooms themselves sometimes changed, or moved, or disappeared altogether. But for all it's mystery, no one had thought to put in a decent heating system, other than the huge and hopelessly inefficient fireplaces. Of course, they had no electricity, no power source other than wood and coal. And those would not last long if an extended cold season was about to become reality. Tony rolled up his designs and turned to his 'men', who were actually an odd assortment of dwarves, elves and old servants.

"Well, we can't do anymore from this end until I get what we need from my end" he said. The workers waited without a trace of enthusiasm in their expressions. Leaving the room, Tony clomped up the stairs to the fourth floor. It took a bit longer than usual to reach the wing he wanted, given the increasing amounts of people lingering in the corridors and state rooms. Tony knew that many refugees had been arriving at the castle for days now and Wendell had been doing his best to accomodate them. So far, all seemed to be fitting in, but it was obvious that the castle would reach capacity within weeks, and Tony had no idea just how many folk would eventually come here seeking shelter. That was providing they could get here through the weather in the first place.

At the door, he tapped quietly. It opened almost immediately, but Tony stared into open space for a second before he looked down to see the diminutive girl-cub Alice holding the door handle as it swung back. Tony smiled at her.

"Hello Alice. I've come to see your Auntie Virginia" he said, stooping down to her eye level. The cub looked at him levelly. A solemn child, thought Tony, though he couldn't really blame her. Orphaned from her mother, and now her father had left the castle on some secret mission of his own. He went to pat her on the head, but she scuttled away deftly, avoiding his touch. Something tugged on the leg of his trousers.

"Papa"

"Hey there, little man!" he said to Caelum, picking him up to ride on his shoulder. The little boy cooed and wriggled in excitement from his high vantage point. Virginia laughed from her position at the small table. She had what looked like old scrolls and bits of parchment spread out over it.

"Dad, you know you shouldn't carry Caelum like that. Wolf says cubs should always stay below the eyeline of their elders. It teaches them their place in the pack. And Wolf says..."

"Ah, 'Wolf says this and Wolf says that', really, he says too many things!" Tony countered, but he kept his tone light, knowing how much Virginia disliked it when they sniped about each other. "Besides, my grandson is only _one quarter _wolf, and I've never known any kid not to like riding on their papa's shoulders! Right Caelum?" he added, tickling the boy's toes. Caelum giggled in delight and Virginia smiled at him again.

"Hmm, well, I suppose you're right. But don't blame me if your grandson grows up to be dominating, overbearing lout"

"With Wolf as his father? Really, I don't know how that might happen!" Tony retorted good naturedly. He dodged the thrown cushion just in time. "I wanted to let you know that I've got just about everything organised".

"Ah, good. Lets hope it works. This castle, and many others, are filling up quickly, and there's not nearly enough heating to go around. We'll be seeing a mass extermination unless we can come up with something soon!" Virginia replied. Tony saw that her own cheeks were flushed with the cold, despite the roaring fire and thick woollen blanket over her knees. It made him angry suddenly, in that fatherly way where all daughters were expected to be cared for. At least her health was improved and the new pregnancy safe. Tony truly hadn't known what to think when Virginia had told him about the new cub. Although she didn't blame Wolf openly, Tony felt sure that maybe in private she must certainly be angry with him about it, given that that aspect of their relationship was supposedly in his hands. Tony blushed at the uncomfortable images his mind conjured. To distract himself, he walked to the frosted up window. No one walked the garden pathways today.

"Well, I suppose I should get going. There's a lot to do. Will you come and see me off?" he asked Virginia. At her assent, they left the cub's in the room and walked the length of the corridor together. At the Travelling Mirror, Tony stared at his reflection for a moment. He'd had the tailor fashion something that at least resembled his everyday 10th Kingdom clothes, albeit one size slightly larger. Virginia turned the disc on the frame and the New York skyline sprang into view. Tony turned to give her a hug before stepping through. Instantly, the endless line of mirrors rose up to smash as he passed through them. A totally uncanny experience. He felt ground beneath his feet. A vast cacophany of city sounds flooded his ears. His vision blurred and cleared. Back in New York.

Even though he had been away for more than a year, Tony instinctively expected a swarm of police officers still combing the shrubbery for him. There was nothing, of course. Just an empty, normal looking spot in the vastness of Central Park. Except for that odd wobbling rectangle behind him, that is. Knowing that Virginia would take the risk and leave the portal open until he returned, Tony moved swiftly away. A few minutes hard walking brought him to the old crumbling edifice where he and Virginia had once eked out a living. Cars whizzed by as he awkwardly crossed the street. There was a large glaring sign erected outside the apartment building, but Tony paid it no mind. His attention was caught immediately by the little dumpy man who stood underneath it, looking up with an air of perpetual discontent. Tony cleared his throat, and straight away regretted doing it in such a public place. Passers-by snickered in amusement as Murray threw himself prostate on the ground at Tony's feet.

"Oh, wonders of heaven. The Master! Look everyone, he has returned. THE MASTER has returned to us!"


	6. Chapter 6

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Six

"Wolf, tell me what you know of dragons. You know, the stuff you learned as a child". The question, from Virginia, did not really surprise Wolf when she spoke it. It was evening, darker than usual as the moon was covered once again with heavy clouds. Most of the castle was already abed, those without the comfort of mattresses bunking down wherever they could. More and more common folk were arriving at the gates every day now. Cold, hungry and dispirited from the unseasonal cold. Folk who should have been enjoying the harvest season, laying in food and supplies before the winter, and now driven out of their homes and farms. Traditionally, the Castle White, and other's still occupied throughout the Kingdom provided shelter for anyone who needed it during the hard times. No one was ever turned away, but even now the palace was almost at it's mid-winter capacity. To Wolf's sharp ears, the place thrummed with life and noise. No wolf folk had turned up at the gates yet though, he smiled with secret pride at his people's hardiness. He wondered how he would feel if they did. It had been bad enough to have the stranger wolf, and that was before he had attacked Virginia in any case! Virginia nudged him in the ribs and he turned to smile at her. She was naked under their covers, but here she was, still badgering him with talk! Wolf sighed goodnaturedly. Cripes, didn't the woman know how distracting she was?

"Sorry dearest" he said, kissing her brow. "Now, what were we _talking_ about?"

"Dragons, Wolf"

"Ah yes. Well, this is what my mother taught me" Wolf sat up and tried to mimick the gently exasperated expression that his mother often wore when she was trying to teach her wayward cubs, when all they wanted to do was to go out and chase things. "Hmm, well, dragons are the eldest of races in the Kingdoms. Some say that they were here long before man and wolf kind, even elf folk have no records of them suddenly appearing. In olden times, men and dragons were on friendly terms. Dragons only took what was needful for them, and their presence in a land often provided a deterrent to the other enemies of man, such as giants, trolls and ogres. Then the dwarves discovered quick-silver, of which they could fashion the magic mirrors and other tools. It was purely by accident that the male dragons became aware of the presence of quick-silver, and they quickly became addicted to it..."

"Only the males?"

"Yes. No one knows why only them and not the females, but with it the male dragons became larger, more powerful, more aggressive. The sought quick-silver wherever they could and made many raids on the dwarf Kingdom. Now, at that time, many magic mirrors were being produced, and everyone wanted one, man, elf and dwarf alike. So when the incessant raiding and consumption by the dragons threatened to halt the production of the magical tools, the other races in the Kingdoms started to look upon the dragons with unfriendly eyes. Soon, the Kings and leaders everywhere were urging their bravest and strongest warriors to drive out the dragons. Dragons are strong, and powerful with magic, and many men perished. But the dragons were always few, and slow to breed, and men were many. Slowly, over the generations, the dragon folk were exterminated, but not before they had sapped nearly the entire dwarf reserves of quick-silver. That is why no magic mirrors have been made for many years"

"Excepting Wendell's Coronation gift"

"Yes. Anyway, the last male dragon was killed some fifty years before the rise of the Great Women and the formation of the Kingdoms as we know them today"

"The last? There were no more?"

"None that have been seen. Of course, there's always the rumours here and there. Occasional eggs are found, hidden deep in the earth, but they never hatch out"

"What about the fire breathing part? Or is that just a myth?"

"Oh no, the fire is certainly not a made up tale to frighten grown men with. But I do recall there being some confusion with the old tales about the exact nature of the fire, and when and where a dragon could conjure it"

"And the females? What happened to them?"

"No one knows, Virginia. Certainly they were targets, but in many ways they were considered wiser than their males. Perhaps they simply flew away. I don't know. As a cub, I used to dream of seeing a dragon, you know. Not to hunt or hurt one, cause us wolf's never made war with them, but just to see one. The drawings in my school book were amazing, and you've seen the skeletons yourself, remember?" Wolf said. Looking at Virginia, he could see her eyes roving back and forth as her mind tried to conjure an image of such an immense creature. And Wolf knew, with a sudden certainty, that Virginia needed no picture book illustration. She _had_ seen one. In the pocket of her robe, she had the scale of one, no less. Virginia turned her head to face him, her expression letting him know that he had guessed correctly.

"In Coven Lake, there is a dragon. I saw her when I was coming to the surface, Wolf. A real, live dragon, lying on the bottom. Coventina said to me 'she sleeps, a long time she sleeps'. I wonder just how long, Wolf?"

"More importantly, why did she give you a scale from the dragon? What can it mean? Is it a clue, or was it just some random offering?"

"I wonder what her name is, Wolf. Did the dragon folk have names?"

"Oh yes. In olden days, all the dragons were known by their names. As to your sleeping dragon's name, I've no clue, but there _is_ someone who we've forgotten all about, and who only a few days ago mentioned a dragon's name right out of the blue"

"Who?"

"Alice"

"Ah, of course! She fell into the Lake that night. When Elias was transformed. I'd forgotten all about it. Coventina did warn me not to let anyone enter the water whilst she flooded it, you know. Hmm, I wonder just what that little cub saw? So, she mentioned a name then? What was it?"

"Zaphira"

"Zaphira" Virginia repeated. "Beautiful name. It suits her, Wolf. I wish you could have seen her, just like you wanted to when you were a cub" she continued. She stretched and yawned, and Wolf slipped his hand across to fondle her swelling breasts. As he fell under the intoxicating spell of her blue eyes, he wondered again at how Virginia could still be so innocent of the nature of things in his world. Any child or cub of the Kingdoms could read ahead of this story and foretell what would happen. The knowledge, the evidence, the name and the wish. Was that all one needed to bring a legend to life again? Under her touch, Wolf shivered.

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Tony rubbed at his aching back. Instantly, he had unwanted attention. A Murray stooped to plant a kiss on his posterior. Tony had no idea which Murray it was, and in fact he had taken to calling them all "Murray", though in truth he suspected he could have called them anything and they still would have answered. Mr Murray the original, and his multiplying legions of family members, had lost none of their hypnotic devotion. Now, as he watched them go about their various tasks with that odd, vacant expression, Tony found himself getting more and more spooked. They were like robots. Even the carefully made up Mrs Murray, who Tony had once ogled and planned to buy underwear for was now oddly unattractive. Tony wondered what their conversations were about when he wasn't with them. Did they simply forget and return to their everyday activities? Or did they stand about and mourn the lack of commands from 'the Master'?

They did work like troopers though, he had to admit. In the few hours he had been back in New York, his own personal army had lost no time in following his requests. Standing in his old apartment for the first time in more than a year, Tony stared at the accumulating pile of machinery and reflected on just how weird his life had become. And yet it had been the stink of the city, the rushing crowds, the press of taxi cabs on the road outside that now seemed foreign to him. How had he and Virginia lived here all those years, pretending to be happy to each other, both secretly wanting to be out of this fuming city, and yet both unable to leave it? Both of them, waiting only for _her_ to return. The eventual reunion that Tony had imagined in so many ways had certainly not played out in any way, shape or form that a sane man might hope for.

A dull thud caught his attention. A Murray had dropped something on another Murray's toes. The injured Murray whimpered loudly. Tony felt a ripple of irritation suddenly. He wanted to be clear of this place, and back home in the Fourth Kingdom. But he had a job to do, a job given him by Virginia. And it had been a good idea, he'd thought at the time. Now, he surveyed the mass of equipment and wondered just how he was going to get it across the park and through the portal. He looked at his watch. Well, it was late enough, and dark enough, to try and get at least one through. He gestured to some male Murrays standing by.

"Here now, Murrays, get that crate closed up" he said, having learned from experience to keep his orders simple. When they had nailed the wooden box closed, he told them to see if they could lift the thing. Between four Murray men, they managed to heft the crate high enough. Getting across the street outside and into the park beyond was more tricky. Several people wandering past gave them odd looks, and a couple looked like they were about to call the cops. Tony was reminded suddenly that he was still a wanted criminal. Quickly, he hustled the Murray's and their cargo towards the portal. It shimmered and floated just where he had left it. The crate looked far too wide to pass through the door sized opening, but amazingly the portal seemed to stretch and draw the box forward of it's own voilition. The Murrays gaped in open astonishment as the crate disappeared. Tony snapped his fingers at them.

"Forget you saw this, and tell no one" he ordered brusquely. "Now, whilst I'm away, I want you to continue getting more boxed up and ready to go. I'll be back either tomorrow or the next day, okay?" he added, watching their stupified expressions. He pointed them away from the portal and waited till they were out of sight before stepping through himself. On the other side, an equally confused young guard stood, looking uncertainly at the large wooden box that had suddenly appeared in the mirror room.

"Lord Antony! If I may ask, what is in that box?" the guard stammered. His cheeks were ruddy from the icy air and he stood uncomfortably despite his woollen garments. Tony smiled reassuringly at the young guard. Hopefully he, and everyone else in the castle would be a whole lot warmer, at least.

"It's a little bit of Tenth Kingdom magic, young man. We call it a generator"

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Far to the north, Rhoswen stood before the solid mass from which protruded her source of magic. It was dangerous to come here so soon after her last visit, but things were too variable at the moment. Most of her emmisaries would have reached their targets by now, though it would still be some days before they returned with their tidings. Not that Rhoswen had any doubts about what those responses would be. The other Eight Kingdoms had never submitted to the Ice Kingdom before, and nor would they do so again. Just as Rhoswen herself would not. Knowing she was unobserved, the Princess shivered a little at the boldness of her move against the foreign lands. A plan years in the making, growing to fruition behind the icy barriers that separated her land from the others. Rhoswen pinched her arm to remind herself. It was not her land, no, not at all. She would do well to remember it, lest the true ruler find more than subservience shining out from her blue eyes one day. And yet, that day could be sooner than Rhoswen thought. The Queen, Neva, had been taking longer and longer each day to rise and attire herself. Some days she would not appear before midday. Rhoswen knew the servants gossiped as much as they dared about the Queen's health. They probably chattered about the Princess as well, in truth, though Rhoswen had grown skilled in the pretence of health.

Feeling the now familiar prickling on her skin, Rhoswen approached. Fate, or just ill luck, had combined to make her have to kneel in order to access the power that the ice concealed. Only discovered a few years after Rhoswen had come to live in the palace, the source had remained mostly unchanged over the ensuing time. Rhoswen was one of only a few living souls who knew of it's existence. Neva had wasted no time in 'disposing' of those who had accidently uncovered it. The Queen had been the first to try and tap the power, probably the first to even think of doing such a thing. Rhoswen looked upwards at the massive dark shape enclosed in the thick ice. Depending on the angle one stood, the shape appeared to morph and ripple. A dead thing, perfectly preserved a hundred feet from the surface. There was no way to tell how long the thing had been there. Long before the first foundation stones had been laid on the Ice Palace grounds, no doubt.

Rhoswen's fingers grasped a small sharp ice pick, a miniature version of the common house tool found in every Eighth Kingdom dwelling. Though she did not entirely believe in them, she recited a quick prayer, almost like a mantra of protection that her step mother had taught her. Using the implement, she chivvied open a small wedge in the ice. Dark fluid, thick and slow, dripped down. Rhoswen caught the drops reverentially, holding a small silver basin under the crack. All too soon, the flow stopped. Rhoswen ran a small amount of clear water over the surface, watching as the crack sealed itself with new ice. Lifting the basin carefully, she backed away to sit crosslegged on the floor. Bending over the fluid, she watched it as it steamed and rippled with a life all it's own. It was impossible not inhale the sharp odour, but she waited patiently, ignoring her stinging nostrils and eyes. The fluid, dark and shot through with flashes of silver, settled into a rounded hemisphere. Rhoswen stared avidly at the metallic surface. There was always that moment, when all might go astray and she would see nothing. But today she was determined not to be disappointed. Focussing all her will on the orb, she strove to direct it's power.

"Show me, show me...show me those who would be mine enemy" she whispered. A face came into view, but Rhoswen didn't need to wait for the image to sharpen before she recognized who it was. That woman again. Virginia Lewis. The other woman stood at a window. As she watched, Rhoswen saw her fuss absently with the hair on the back of her neck, no doubt feeling it rise on end but not knowing why. Rhoswen saw her turn to someone else out of view, and smile at them. As she did so, Rhoswen heard her own voice gasp in wonder. She bent closer. Something was wrong with the image of Virginia. But how, and what did it mean? An old memory surfaced, a tale of old once heard as a child. A foretelling more than a story. Rhoswen felt a great rush of excitement at the wavering image. There was no mistake here...only a miracle. A miracle of power. A weapon to be wielded, one that the princess knew instinctively she would need one day if she was to rule this world completely, mankind and beast alike. She felt cold at the thought that she could have so easily destoyed it. Now, she would need to modify things, just a touch.

She wondered if this Virginia _knew_. Likely she did not. She was not a native of these lands.

A great mass of red fabric filled the orb's view and the Princess cursed a moment as the vision went dark. She sighed loudly. The orb was shrinking now as it always did, evaporating into nothingness. She leant closer, wanting to see if the power would yield anything else. Blue sky flooded the dying orb. Endless sky, looking down onto green fields and valleys. Thoroughly unpleasant scene from Rhoswen's point of view, who preferred always the clean slate of snow, but interesting all the same. The scene in the orb dipped slightly, curving away towards a line of mountains. Rhoswen frowned in thought. What did it mean? Could it be an abberation, as sometimes happened, some other entities visions or dreams?

The silver orb had all but disappeared. Rhoswen used a handful of clean snow to clean out the grey powdery residue left behind. Standing too quickly made her dizzy, so she crouched a minute on the hard floor. The faint light from her lamp cast long shadows against the frozen edifice. Was it her imagination, or had the outline of the thing changed? Rhoswen had stared at it so many times that she was almost sure that it had. Just a fraction. An inch maybe. Impossible, of course. Perhaps she had indeed tapped the source too often, not allowed for the time for her body to cleanse itself of the toxic touch. She rubbed at her temples as she rose once more. All of a sudden, her feet found themselves eager to leave. At the door, she paused to look back. Nothing disturbed the icy still air of the tomb-cell. The stairway seemed to stretch up forever under her hurrying feet.


	7. Chapter 7

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Seven

"Good morning Scarlett" Virginia said as the door to her suite swung open. The tall blond woman, Queen of the Northern Second Kingdom, paused just momentarily at the entrance. Just long enough for her to scan the room for Wolf, thought Virginia with a hidden smile. He had gone out already, as she knew, but she gave no sign to Scarlett to indicate it. After a second the Queen came further into the room, evidently satisfied that no one was about to jump out from behind a door and frighten her, as Wolf had done more than once. Virginia was often amused at the developing relationship between Wolf and Scarlett. Wolf too often hid his disdain of her in exhuberant displays of either playfulness or barbing commentry. Scarlett, in turn, did her best to try and pretend that his behaviour didn't bother her one bit. Both served only to make each others reactions worse, of course. Virginia felt that surely one day they'd be at each other, and then they might be able to work together afterwards. Maybe they both knew that as well, but so far they seemed determined to avoid saying what they really wanted to say.

Scarlett returned Virginia's smile. "Good morning to you, Virginia. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, much better since my father got those generators up and running. Pretty much the whole Castle is heated now, he says, although it's going to take constant maintenance to keep them running. He's been back and forth from New York fetching fuel and heaters all week"

"It's quite amazing, this technology you have. I think it will save many many lives this winter, Virginia. And you say that Lord Antony can get more of these, _machines_, is that the word?" Scarlett replied. Virginia did not miss the point. Scarlett was worried about her home, her own people. If snow was indeed falling even as far south as the First Kingdom, Virginia could only imagine what it would be like in the north, so close to the centre of the storm. She nodded at Scarlett to reassure her.

"Oh yes, definately we can get more. All we need is some way of getting them to the people who need them" Virginia said, but in reality she knew that that could prove to be the most difficult aspect. The snow and freezing ice had scarcely stopped for weeks now. All of the smaller roads were blocked, and many of the larger travelways were becoming harder and harder to traverse. In not much time at all, the Kingdoms would be cut off, both internally, and from each other. Of Wendell's invitations, only Scarlett and Cinderella had so far attended. The elf that Wolf had found had indeed been carrying a baton with a message from Leaf-fall. The Fairy Kingdom itself was beseiged by the killing cold, and none of their usually magically gifted folk had been able to lift the Ice Queen's spell. Since it was too cold for flying, they would attempt to send a party to Castle White overland, but as yet no one had arrived. Queen Gretchen, Scarlett's co-ruler, had also sent an emmisary, as well as a private letter for Scarlett.

"She wants to know what's going on up in Red Riding Hood Forest" Scarlett said, proffering the letter. "She's had 'interesting' rumours come her way in recent weeks. Something about the City now being open to wolf people. Many wolf packs have taken up the invitation, apparently, she says" Scarlett continued. Virginia looked at her closely. Though she was well aware of the changes that Scarlett had put in place before coming down here, she was curious to see if Scarlett still had misgivings over them. As the woman stood there fidgeting with the paper, it seemed that she did.

"You did the right thing, Scarlett"

"Oh, I know so, in my heart, but, I have to worry. The people, my people, it's too soon for them to accept it fully...I worry that they will ignore the ruling, that I won't have a Kingdom to return to. I have many relatives who would be happy enough to step into my shoes"

"I think your people will have enough to worry about, Scarlett, if this ice storm continues. It's all very well to keep the peoples from freezing if they then starve afterwards. How will Gretchen and her people fare, do you think? It's a pity that she couldn't come here to Castle White. I would have liked to meet her"

"Oh I doubt she would have come here even in high summer. Gretchen, as with all in her family, have an ingrained fear of leaving home, like they'll become lost and never find it again. As for her towns and villages, well, normally the autumn harvest would have filled the warehouses by now. But all the fields are covered and the grain frozen in the fields. They'll just have to go without their beloved gingerbread for a while, I fear" Scarlett replied, rubbing at her forehead. She sank rather ungraciously into one of the lounge chairs. Wolf's favourite too, thought Virginia with amusement. Both of them turned at a small tap on the door. It was Wendell. Virginia thought he had not wasted a second of decent time before following Scarlett to here. Probably had advisors and spies watching her every move and planning small moments when they could be alone together. Well, almost alone, if Virginia and the two cubs who had just appeared could be discounted. Caelum toddled over to Wendell, but Virginia noticed that Alice withdrew into the drapes along the window, hiding herself. Virginia smiled at the girl to reassure her, but she did not leave her shadowy corner.

"Virginia...umm, Scarl...I mean, Queen Scarlett, of course..." began Wendell awkwardly. He blushed furiously whilst the two women laughed at him.

"Oh, I think you can dispense with the courtly manners in here, Wendell. It's not as though we're on public display" Virginia said to him.

"Oh sure, for now maybe, but I know that even now some little tattle tale is on their way to Scarlett's people, telling them that the King has sought to be alone with their Queen...again!" he retorted. Scarlett laughed again from her chair.

"Probably true, my love, but you of all people must know how these things work!" she said airily. Virginia watched as her mind caught up with what she had just said. My love, of all things! Wendell just stood gaping at her. Virginia smiled and snapped her fingers under his nose.

"Did you have a real reason for coming to see me this morning?" she asked the spellbound King.

"Oh...oh yes, a real reason, actually. Queen Cinderella wants to speak with you, Virginia. With Scarlett and myself as well. I have had tidings today from some of the other Kingdoms as well. We should sit down together, you know. Something, some plan, will have to be formed. We can't just sit idle whilst the Ice Queen tightens her death hold on us". Wendell's blue eyes bored into Virginia's as he spoke. Virginia found that she did not really like the trust she saw there. What on earth was he expecting her to be able to do? Were they all? For a moment the panic crested. _I'm not the one. I can't work any magic. I can't be trusted with power._

The door clicked shut and Virginia came back to the present. They had left, Scarlett and Wendell. Caelum played on the rug, pulling apart the loose threads with his deft little fingers. Virginia went to sit with him, mussing his dark curls, so like Wolf's. A rustling of the drapes revealed Alice. Virginia looked her over thoughtfully.

"What have you seen, little Alice?" she asked quietly, more to herself than the cub. A corner of the girl's mouth slid upwards.

"It doesn't matter, Lady. What matters now is what _she _has seen"

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Wolf dropped the reins of his horse as he reached the outskirts of the disenchanted forest. It had been hard going for the horse, with deep drifts and treacherous ice, but as much as he disliked riding, Wolf knew he needed to be prudent. On foot, he have scarcely been half way there by now. At least under the eaves of the treeline, the snow was much less, though it was no warmer. A few birds twittered from high branches. Hungry, hungry, worms all gone, they seemed to say. Within an hour of traversing the forest, the trees became too thick for the horse to continue, so Wolf doubled back to the forest road to tether it there and continue on foot. Though he had no particular destination in mind, Wolf found himself unconciously seeking those invisible wolf boundaries that made up the half-wolf packs territories who lived in the forest. The scents of many stranger wolf's lay over and across the boundaries, he soon discovered. It was not unexpected, given the rough conditions, but he hoped that the human aspects of charity to those in need would prevail. The last thing he wanted was fighting and possible killings within the wolfen people as they felt the pinch of the long winter. Thankfully, the disenchanted forest was typically well stocked with game, and wolfs knew how to manage with little to live on.

A rustling, a polite way of letting on he was being approached stirred the close air. A soft voice in wolfen.

"Warden" The speaker was the half she-wolf Wendy, who had attended Caelum's blooding two months ago. Wolf turned to greet her as she stepped from behind a tree. She looked tired, and overly wary too. She stroked her throat softly, an unconcious gesture used between half wolfs who knew each other. It was an acknowledgement of status and Wolf accepted it seriously, even though it made him uneasy suddenly. His hand moved to grip her jaw lightly before releasing it.

"You look well" he lied.

"I do not, Lucian. But I am as well as I can be, given the world as it is"

"What has been happening in here?" Wolf asked, gesturing to the surrounding trees. All of a sudden, he felt ashamed that he had not come here sooner. He was their Warden, was he not?

"The killing snow has driven many into places they would not normally go, and many think that they _should not _go there. You know the places I mean?" she responded. Wolf did know where she meant. Dark, magic places, where the rules of the world did not often apply. Trees walked and spoke, stars rested in pools, gods and goddesses danced. So it was said. Dangerous places. It made his skin crawl to think of ignorant humans and others blundering through these forbidden places. He said a silent prayer to the forest, bidding it to have tolerance of these incursions, at least until someone could figure out how to stop the Ice Queen. Not that anyone had come up with a plausible idea yet.

"I'm sorry. I haven't been doing a good job here, have I?" he asked, knowing the truth of it.

"Nay, do not take it all upon yourself. Who can stop the very seasons? Can anyone?"

"This is not a normal season gone wrong. It's a magic, a spell set on us by someone who desires only death and dominion over others"

"She has tried it before, and always we have been able to repell her"

"Yes, that was because she has sent forth things that we can fight. Flesh and blood. Soldiers and those huge warrior peoples she controls. None of them have shown themselves yet"

"They wait until her snow has done it's work. Till we are weakened and scattered and defenceless"

"Aye"

"Pity we could not mount an offensive of our own"

"You mean wolfs, together? It's never been done, Wendy"

"No, not yet. But it might be worth thinking about, yes?" she responded. Wolf looked at her closely, thinking. Wolfs and half-wolf's working together as one unit. What an, _unnatural_ idea. And yet his human sensibilities were jumping up and down with approval at the suggestion. A wolf army. The possibilities were endless, once you thought about it, he realised. Wolfen people had so many physical advantages over human soldiers, who made up the bulk of armed forces in the Kingdoms. His mind ran away with the visions of wolf's marching together, surrounding the Ice Palace and bringing it down. But there was one major hitch in the plan, one that Wendy and others were most likely ignorant of. Wolf gazed at her again, wondering. Should he tell what he knew? He chewed his upper lip, undecided.

"The humans are meeting today, in King Wendell's palace"

"Perhaps it's a thing that could be raised. Coming from the right person, they may like what they hear". Wolf nodded his head in agreement, though inwardly he doubted if any human would sanction the creation of such an army. Officially anyway.

"I will attend this meeting, at any rate. Maybe another solution will present itself. There is a great deal of magical ability and other resources that the other peoples can use, after all"

"True enough. But surely if there were such a counter-spell, it would have been used by now, don't you think?" Wendy said. Wolf found again that he agreed with her summation. And logically, if there was no solution to the freezing spell, then the only real option left was to destroy the one who cast it. Wendy turned her head back to the trees, and Wolf knew she sought her mate's scent. Her belly, swelling with the new life, caught his eye, making him think of his own new cub and the troubled world it would be born into. As she moved to go, he called out softly.

"Take care Wendy. Do your best. I will return as soon as I can, or send word of what is decided". Wendy paused and nodded back to him. "And, your idea...talk to others about it. Let me know what they think" Wolf added cautiously. Well, it wouldn't hurt to know how such a thing might be received. And it was a long way between thoughts and actually acting on something, usually.

Alone again, Wolf trudged back through the clumps of snow and ice, heading towards the road. The tree where he had tethered his horse was exactly where he had left it. Except for the missing horse. It's bridle lay twisted on the road. Wolf sighed. It didn't take much scouting around to discover the facts. The horse was gone, led away into the forest. Nose to the ground, it was easy to read the signs. To a human they might look just like the tracks of bare feet, but Wolf knew the differences. Half-wolf's had stolen his horse. Young ones, probably a loose knit pack of new fanged juveniles. Wolf stood up from the ground, scratching his head. Ordinarily, he should by rights follow them and give them a good thrashing for their temerity. They would certainly have been aware of who the rider of the horse was, yet they had taken the risk anyway. Wolf smiled softly. Well, he could remember doing similar things when he was a youngster. He had little doubts over the fate of the horse though.

"Don't you cubs waste a single scrap!" he called out. Turning aside from the road, the left it to plunge back into the forest, cutting across in what his instincts told him was the right direction back to Castle White. After a good couple of hours of cold ploughing through drifts, his indulgent manner with the naughty cubs was beginning to wear thin. At least on horseback, much as he disliked it, he'd be halfway home by now. Another hidden hole in the mushy snow opened, dragging his leg down into it. Wolf cursed loudly. He tried to kick his leg free, but the buckle on his boot snagged on something and wouldn't budge.

"Suck an Elf!" he growled. With his strong fingers, he managed to work his foot out of the boot. He stood staring into the hole, tempted to leave the thing there and go barefoot as he had done so many times before. Then he looked up the gray skies. Sighing, he bent to dig around the boot. Halfway down, his eyes were captured by an odd glint of metal. It wasn't a tree root his boot had snagged on, but something else. Something metallic, shining brightly despite the gloomy day. Wolf felt his blood chill as he looked at the thing. Though it had held his foot tightly, the object came easily into his hand when he reached for it. Too easily, really, when he though about it. Like it wanted to be held. It was lighter than it looked, well balanced. A work of great craftmanship. It whistled through the air when he swung it experimentally.

Wolf wavered uncertainly. Much as he wanted to just leave the thing lying, he knew the ways of the world well enough. He tore a section of his shirt off to wrap the thing in and stowed it carefully in his small leather backpack. Standing once more, he cast around for his bearings and set off again. He'd be late, and Virginia would be worrying. The trees shivered as he passed them, one by one, and the Magic Axe thrummed softly to itself, happily.

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If this is what it meant to be a royal personage in the Nine Kingdoms, thought Virginia ruefully, then no one need ever worry about her aspiring to the position. She felt like she'd been shut up in here for days. Even the most comfortable chair could turn to stone when all one had to listen to was the careful, overly polite posturing of Kings and Queens, Princesses and Noblemen. It had taken nearly an hour just to work out who would sit where, according to some ancient tradition of allocating status amongst royalty. Virginia wished they'd just take the wolfish approach. Whoever was the biggest and strongest got to sit wherever he or she liked, and the rest just had to fall in line. She glanced over towards Scarlett, sitting stiff backed in her own chair. Virginia thought she looked distracted, as only someone could be when in the same room as their true love. Wendell, at least, was doing a reasonable job of focussing on the conversation. Most of this conversing was being done by Queen Cinderella. Unlike the rest of the noble born people in the room, Virginia had quickly lost her awe for the aged Queen. Perhaps Cinderella was aware of this, for other than the polite acknowledgement when Virginia had entered the room, she had directed very little of the discussion towards her since.

Virginia decided early on not to be insulted at the lack of inclusion. Rather, it gave her a unique advantage of being able to observe how things worked. And rather than feeling ignored, she began to sense that Cinderella's attention really was focussed on her more than any of the others. Virginia had felt the Queen's eyes on her several times. What does she see when she looks at me? Does the shadow of my mother loom over me, like some gruesome ghost? Virginia felt her skin prickle as it often did when she thought about Christine. And ghost. Why that word again? Ghosts, or more specifically, ghost wolf's, had been flitting in and out of her mind for weeks now. The face of the Ice Queen's envoy, Yacobe, seemed to be burned into her memory. And his words. _So, it is true_. The reverence of them disturbed Virginia almost as much as his physical presence had. Though she didn't want to admit it, he had frightened her that night. She had scarcely been outside since, and never at night. Her hands fell subconciously to her stomach, rubbing at the swelling mound there. Yet another worry, this cub was becoming. Virginia knew she had the dates correct, yet the baby already protruded a good deal more than she should be. Perhaps the time spent in the Goblin Lands, with their strange altered time states, had advanced the gestation, she wondered uneasily. It wasn't twins, at least. Wolf had assured her that he could only hear one heartbeat.

"Virginia?". Wendell's voice intruded on her thoughts. Someone's hand shook her shoulder gently. Scarlett.

"Uh? Oh, sorry" she murmured. The room came back into focus.

"We were going to break for supper"

"Oh, good, yes, I am hungry" Virginia answered, feeling a now familiar gnawing in her stomach.

"And after supper, Virginia, we want to try the Summoning Mirror" Wendell continued.

"The what?" Virginia asked, although she had heard it the first time.

"The Summoning Mirror. The one that the Evil Qu...I mean, your mother used. We...need it. We need to contact the other rulers. The roads are blocked, the cold is too bitter to travel between the Kingdoms now. Soon, that mirror may be the only way we can keep in contact with each other. It's vital that one of us learns how to use it"

"Those mirrors have long been used by corrupted people, for ill ends and ill gain. How do you know they won't end up tainting you, Wendell?"

"Me? You want _me_ to talk to them?"

"Well of course you. You are the grandson of Snow-white. Those mirrors go with that name. Of anyone in this room, it is you who has the right to try, at least"

"Not you, Lady Virginia? You don't want to speak to the mirrors?" Cinderella spoke suddenly. Virginia turned to look at the woman. Bird bright eyes glittered from beneath the gilded tiara and mass of red hair. It's a test, Virginia, she thought to herself. Briefly, she entertained the idea of calling the old Queen's bluff. Oh yes, why thank you! I've just been waiting for the opportunity to use my mother's power.

"No, Queen Cinderella. I do not. I want nothing to do with them" she answered coolly. There! Make of it what you will. She watched as Cinderella's expression gave not a thing away to indicate what she thought about Virginia's response. Years and years of training in that mask like face. A skill that Virginia knew she could never learn, not even after two hundred years. Coventina's words came back to her. _You can deny it, Virginia, but they will not believe you_.


	8. Chapter 8

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Eight

It was much later in the night that Virginia found herself venturing outside again. At least as far as the end of the entrance porch. She cursed her jumpiness as much as she cursed Wolf for not being there. He should have returned hours ago, even if the Disenchanted Forest _was_ ten miles away on a snow covered road. Virginia looked for the moon but it was hidden behind fast moving clouds. Only now and then a glimmer of the disk showed through. In her head she knew it was not at the full yet, so Wolf would not have been more tempted than usual to go hunting. Her breath made frosty clouds of steam around her head. The clunking rattle of the Tenth Kingdom generator that her father had procured could easily be heard in the still night air. Wendell had gaped and crinkled his nose at the hunk of machinery when he had first seen it.

"Ugh, what's that smell?" he had asked, trying to be polite because he knew Scarlett was watching him.

"It's petrol, fuel for the generator. It makes it run, Wendell" Tony had explained patiently. Virginia thought her father had looked as proud as punch when he'd assembled the thing for the first time. Ever the tinkerer. "Watch this, buddy" he'd continued. The engine had roared into life first go. Virginia, who was totally accustomed to the sounds of machinery had almost laughed at Wendell's expression. But as the warm air from the heaters and airconditioners had started pumping through the palace, his expression had gone from disgust to reverence. Tony would be assured of a knighthood for certainly, he announced. In the weeks since, Virginia had let her father organise the delivery of the generators to outlying estates, along with personally trained operators, and with Wendell's proclaimations that all and sundry were to have access to the life saving warmth.

Behind her the front double doors creaked to admit a small dark figure into the cold. Virginia picked out the identity of the man easily despite the darkness.

"Frederick" she said. The young priest raised his head in her direction and she beckoned him over. Virginia had not seen much of the New Yorker for many weeks. He kept to himself, Wolf had said. Before the winter had come, he had been seen wandering all through the nearby forests, glades, fields and villages, scribbling earnestly in his little notebook. Virginia took a moment to think about what he might have seen and how a priest might interpret them.

"Ahh, hello Virginia. Not sleeping either?" he greeted her with a wry smile.

"No, I'm waiting for Wolf and trying to make up my mind whether to go out after him"

"I think he's resourceful fellow. Where did he go?"

"Out to the Forest"

"Ahh yes, he's the Warden there isn't he? I went there once, months ago it seems, but I didn't get any further than the eaves!" Virginia laughed despite her worries.

"I don't blame you Frederick. It's a strange place, even for me, and I've lived here for nearly two years. There's places in there that even Wolf doesn't go, he says"

"Speaking of your Wolf, might that be him?" Frederick asked, pointing away up the drive. Virginia's heart leapt in relief. Even from that distance, and in the dark, she would recognize that sillouette. He was on foot, which would go some way to explaining why he was so late in returning, but Virginia wasn't in the mind to badger him about it. He was coated in snow and ice but looked as unworried about it as any half-wolf would. The moon shone down suddenly from a gap in the clouds and on impulse Virginia ran down the steps towards him.

"Hey there gorgeous girl" Wolf called out to her, but Virginia found that she didn't have the breath to answer him. Bands of pain, a sickeningly familiar pain, encircled her. She stumbled and he caught her deftly.

"W..Wolf" she managed to gasp.

"Hush...it's okay...I know" he whispered as he bore her back up the stairs. The sad acceptance in his voice was heartbreaking. But then even as she braced herself for the next wave, instantly, as if by magic, the pain stopped.

"Wolf..wait, put me down"

"No, we should get inside"

"No, no, look, it's stopped, the pain has stopped". Wolf looked at her quizzically for a second before setting her down on her feet.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes" Virginia replied, using all her senses to scan her body. No pain now. No coursing blood.

"I don't understand" said Wolf, more to himself than anyone else.

"Wait. Let me try something" It was Frederick, coming forward now to tug gently on Virginia's sleeve. He went down the stairs a little way, then turned and bid Virginia forward. "Slowly now, give me your hand". Virginia did as he asked and he took it, leading her slowly down the steps. At one point he stopped and just eased her hand forward. A tingle of pain now. Not agonising, but noticeable to Virginia. Frederick drew her arm forward another inch. The tingle became a pulsing throb.

"I still don't underst..." began Wolf behind her.

"It's the moon" Virginia said slowly, knowing the truth of it even as she spoke it. Experimentally, she withdrew her hand back into the shadow of the castle where she was standing. Frederick, who was standing in the moonlight, nodded at her.

"Yes, I was watching. As soon as you passed from the shadow of the castle, the pain struck you, and when Wolf carried you back into it, the pain stopped. That first time it happened, was the moon on you then as well?"

Virginia remembered that night well. A sudden beam of light shining on Yacobe's face. And on hers. "Yes, yes it was"

"And you haven't really been outside since then have you? Not at night anyway" he added thoughtfully. Virginia stuck her hand forward again, quickly, then withdrew it. Tingle, then nothing.

"Wolf, give me your cloak a minute" she asked him, taking the cloth when he proferred it and wrapping it around her arm. Taking a breath, she stuck the length of the covered arm into the light. Nothing.

"It must be just your skin, Virginia. How strange is that! You seem to be allergic to moonlight!" Frederick continued, pulling at the light beard he now wore. Hearing his 20th century reasoning and logical deductions, Virginia was almost reassured by them. Almost. She wanted to correct him, but she held her silence. It wasn't herself that was being affected, but the child. The baby, the werewolf tainted child she carried. Turning back to Wolf, she saw his green eyes were wide and round with superstitous wonder. And fear.

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Rhoswen jumped ungraciously as fingers were snapped under her nose. Only one other living soul would dare come so close to her person, much less get her attention in such a demeaning way. Neva might be aged and poisoned by the power, but she was still very much the Queen here, Rhoswen took care to remind herself. The honour guards who had long been bound to her step-mother and shadowed her every move would slay her in an instant if Neva so much as thought about it. Rhoswen glanced aside at the hulking men dressed in the livery of the Snow Palace, pale blue with silver edging, a snowflake symbol stitched onto the shoulder fabric. Many of the men would have the same symbol etched into their flesh as well. It was a common right of passage amongst the savages who made up the bulk of the Eigth Kingdom population. Just as no two snowflakes were the same, so no two symbols were borne by any two warriors. Rhoswen wondered what these men thought about her. Did they desire her, love her even? Or was she merely a symbol herself?

She focussed on Neva with effort. For so many days now her head had been filled with the strange things she had seen in her last visit to the cavern beneath the palace. She longed to descend those stairs again. Even if she didn't fully understand what she had seen, sometimes it was enough just to spy into other people's lives.

"Princess, you need to focus". It was Neva, stating the obvious, and more. Rhoswen felt like shouting all of a sudden._ I'm not a Princess! _Just a foundling, left for dead and picked up by the side of the road. A ripple of anger and anxiety moved down her arms to her clenched fists. She let it go in the way her step-mother had taught her years ago. Vision that had blurred became sharp again. Focus, yes, that's what was needed. No more dreaming, Rhoswen!

A servant entered the room quietly.

"My Lady Queen, My Princess" he began, bowing deeply to Neva and just slightly less to Rhoswen, "Your envoy Yacobe has returned to the Palace"

"Yacobe. He was the one sent to the Fourth Kingdom wasn't he?" Neva spoke to her. Rhoswen nodded her answer before her voice could betray itself. Yacobe was an interesting one to Rhoswen. He was most direct when he spoke to her, even for a wolf such as he was. Rhoswen appreciated directness, from time to time.

"Have him attend on us" she told the servant, watching the man's back as he disappeared down the hallway. She passed the few minutes by counting her heartbeats and comparing them to the Queen's. Only one set of footsteps could be heard approaching the room, but Rhoswen knew Yacobe well enough to know how silent he was on his feet. He preceded the servant through the doorway, his tall figure seeming to unfurl as he drew himself up to bow, stiff and formal, to Neva and herself.

"Your Majesties" he said, simply and curtly as was his wont. Rhoswen felt a tingle of amusement at the deference he showed her. It was all fake, of course. He was a cheiftain, an alpha in his own right, she knew. He had a large pack-clan far to the north to which he would be keen to return to. Rhoswen waited patiently whilst Yacobe relayed his journey and the response of King Wendell to Neva. It was an entirely predictable response from the southern King, of course and Rhoswen silently hoped he would live long enough to regret it.

"You have done well, Yacobe". Neva grated the response from her chair by the window. A distant bell tolled, the signal for supper. Rhoswen held her breath in anticipation. Neva seemed not to have heard, she sat there so long. Finally, after many minutes, she rose and gathered her cloaks around her. Her withered feet rasped across the floor as she turned to go, her guardsmen falling in behind. Within moments, Rhoswen and Yacobe were alone in the tower top room, although the Princess knew they would not be unobserved. Neva had taken to guarding Rhoswens virginity with a renewed vigor in recent years. Behind her, Yacobe had not moved an inch.

"Tell me" Rhoswen whispered.

"What is it you want to know, Princess?"

"Don't play the game with me anymore, Yacobe. You know well what I am asking"

"Yes, Rhoswen. Very well. The woman in question seems well. This Virginia, she is very strong, and well guarded, but I was able to be alone with her sooner than I had expected. Even though she is undoubtedly a human woman, almost I could believe that she sensed me, and came to me"

"You desire her"

"Oh yes, there are not many who wouldn't, Rhoswen" Yacobe continued, and Rhoswen clearly heard the inflections in his deep male voice.

"She is with child, yes?" she asked. Even with her back to him, she could sense the sudden quiet discomfort in the ghost wolf. She knew he desperately wanted to know how she had garnered the information. She turned to face him now, seeing his mask like face compose itself quickly. But he didn't reply to her question. "And this is no ordinary child, Yacobe"

"Well, it would be a quarter wolf, of course. She already has one cub, as you know"

"No. It is more than that. It's different, this one. Something has happened to it. It grows too fast, and it...changes". Rhoswen said, remembering with ease the strange image she had seen. Mirrors always spoke the truth, it was said. And superimposed upon the image of Virginia had been a very strange sight indeed. Rhoswen shook her head slightly to clear it. She glanced at Yacobe under her lashes, wondering. He seemed impassive as ever, yet tension ebbed from his soul. Rhoswen could almost taste it. Should she play her hand yet? Was he ready? Was she?

The decision was made. Rhoswen faced Yacobe fully. Drawing herself up to her full height, she prepared to draw on an aspect of herself that she had never used before today. As her body responded, it felt like a piece of puzzle snicking quietly into place in her mind. Sounds, smells, once muted, now came alive. Through her sharpening vision, through the red tinted haze, she watched Yacobe carefully. It would be a great waste if he failed her now, for she truly did not want to kill him if he did.

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It was cold now. Even a thick skinned creature such as she could sense it. She did not mind the cold particularly, in fact it had been the only sensation she had known for many years. But always it had been soft still, flowing and rippling around her, comforting even as it dulled her mind, slowed her cycles and stifled her dreams. Now, it was hard and brittle. She decided to flex a claw experimentally. Not an inch would it move. A claw on her other foot now, it could move a little, enough to crush even further the body of the man-thing that had disturbed her before.

There was nothing else but to open her eyes and look out, she realised. Careful, now, she didn't want to wake so much. Forming thoughts and ideas were dangerous enough. The world was blurred through the crack between her lids. It was frozen. The great water where she had gone to ground so many generations ago was solid. Suspended in the ice just a few feet from her, she saw the fish-form of the spirit that dwelt within the waters. The fish's lidless eye stared back at her, unflinching. Then it began to rove, back and forth. She watched it as if finally settled on something. Rolling her eyes was difficult, but she managed to get a glimpse of what the spirit was looking at.

It was the nasty arrow that the man-thing had had stuck in it. The silver sharp had worked itself loose from the dead body, she saw. Pointed now directly at herself, it hung eerily in the ice a few feet from her breastbone. She could see the trail it had left behind it as it had worked it's way, inch by inch in her direction. It's aim was as true as if any of the great hunters of old has loosed it just seconds before. Straight into her heart.


	9. Chapter 9

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Nine

Wendell stood at the entrance to the darkened room and tried not to show his apprehension. It was early in the morning. Rupert, his closest advisor, Cinderella and her maid, Antony and Wolf were standing behind him. And there, right on his heels, was Scarlett. Wendell could smell her perfume. They had stolen a kiss last night, a brief moment having slipped their various advisors and chaperones for less than a minute. Wendell had cursed the stiff formality that had kept them so far at arms length from each other, even though he understood it well enough. Had the Ice Queen not sent her storm down upon them, Wendell knew they would undoubtedly be man and wife by now, and probably still in bed at this hour too! He waited until his blush had faded before he turned his attention back to the others.

Wolf had that rumpled, just got out of bed after hours of love-play look that he so often had. Wendell envied him his freedom to come and go from his lover's bed whenever and wherever he chose. Wendell had been relieved though when Virginia had told him about Wolf's proposal and her acceptance of it. No plans had been made though, not when the world was being covered inch by inch in snow and ice. And wolfen marriages were made in the spring, apparently, though Wendell couldn't even begin to imagine what one would be like. Wolf smiled at him when he caught the half-wolf's eye, but Wendell detected an unusual hesitancy, as though his wild friend had many other things on his mind this morning. And there was no sign of Virginia as yet. Wendell hoped she was not unwell with the child again although he doubted Wolf would be here if she was. Maybe she was just tired. Wolf had gotten back late last evening. His horse had run off somewhere, apparently. The stablemaster would be fuming when he found out, thought Wendell.

Cinderella, as immaculate as always, cleared her throat loudly, breaking the silence. "Well, are you going to do this Wendell?" she asked in that ever so direct way she had. Having agreed to try the mirrors, Wendell had found that he had gained some respect from the old Queen, especially since she had been so obvious in her unwillingness to try it herself. But then she had lived two hundred years and was a good deal wiser in the ways of magic than he was, which was not a comforting thought.

Wendell turned back to the room and strode over the threshold without giving himself time to think about it. One by one, his hand found the masses of black velvet that covered the mirrors, drawing them away to expose the ornate frames and dark glass. As the others entered the room, Wendell saw Wolf boldly put his hand up to some of the frames.

"Pity they don't have anything on them that might tell you which is which" he said, peering closely at a half length mirror in the corner. Wendell agreed with him. The only mirror that any of them knew for sure was the Travelling Mirror, through which Tony and Virginia had first arriving in the Kingdoms. Wendell had seen it activated several times and had used it once himself when he'd been a dog. Tony had been going back and forth for weeks now, bringing back many of the noisy and smelly generator things that had so far saved many lives with their endless warmth. But they wouldn't last forever, Tony kept cautioning him, and nor would they feed the people. The first reports of food riots had started to filter through and Wendell suspected that many more were going unreported. Trolls had been raiding villages in the south again, seemingly content just to carry off food instead of simply ravaging and destroying like they usually did. Nothing had been heard from the Fifth Kingdom for weeks now. Of all the Kingdoms, they were the softest and most exhuberant in their lifestyles and they would be hit hard now. Maybe even the Naked Emperor had had to put some clothes on at last, thought Wendell with a suppressed giggle at the sight.

"Well, I think I can recall at least some of what they can do" spoke Rupert now. "When the Queen brought them here, I heard her talking about them on many occasions. There is a mirror that Reveals, a mirror that Remembers, one that Forgets, a mirror that Summons and the Travelling Mirror, of course"

"We should try and find the Summoning Mirror first. Then we can talk to the other Rulers of the Kingdoms" Cinderella said.

"Yes, that one might not seem so...dangerous" Wendell replied. "Anyone want to have a guess?"

"Try this one Wendell" said Wolf, pointing to a smaller mirror with a diamond frame. "It's large enough that the face of the speaker can be seen, but it's too small to travel through, if you see what I mean"

"Hmm, sort of. Oh well, here goes nothing" Wendell said, stepping up to the dark glass. He could not see his own reflection in it. He cleared his throat. "Ahh, Mirror?". There was no response that Wendell could see. "Hello, Mirror? Are you there?" he added lamely, feeling stupid all of a sudden. He didn't want to look silly in front of Scarlett. But she just shrugged her shoulders when he stole a glance at her. Wolf scratched his head.

"We could be here all day with this"

"Yes we could. Maybe, maybe they respond only to...her?"

"No, that's silly. They were around long before her. I'm sure there's just a certain phrase, or word, or something, that turns them active"

"A dwarf might know" said Scarlett.

"There are none in the castle right now, my dear. I sent them back to their mountain" Wendell said to her. She smiled faintly at his 'my dear'. At the door then appeared a familiar small figure. Wolf bounded over to her.

"Virginia! Are you all right this morning? You were so tired last night, I thought you'd never wake from your sleep!" he rushed out as he bent to kiss her. Wendell was about to greet her himself when he heard a very faint cracking sound. No one else in the room seemed to have heard it. He turned back to the mirror he'd been addressing before. A tiny yet noticeable crack ran across it's surface. Wendell puzzled over it. What? Virginia appears, and all of a sudden the mirror wakes up? He felt a chill run down his spine at the thought. He didn't want to believe it. So he thought some more, watching as the other's made their greetings to her. Even Cinderella bade her good morning. Then he made the connection. It wasn't Virginia, but something Wolf had said to her. Surely that was it.

He turned back to glass. Very softly he spoke to it now. "Mirror. Wake from your sleep"

Very quietly the Mirror came to wakefulness, and it laughed and laughed and laughed.

Later that week, on yet another snowbound day indoors, Wolf was trying hard to control his fidgeting. Virginia was singing softly in the other room of their suite, a lullaby for human children that didn't seem to be having much effect on wolf cubs. They'd been tearing around the castle for most of the day, feeling the effects of the moon just as he did. Wolf peered through the ajoining door. Virginia's sillouette was framed against the dull light from the window. Now that he looked at her, he knew he could no longer ignore the obvious. At just two months into the pregnancy, she was a great deal larger than she should be. Wolf blotted out the sounds of the room and the castle to focus his hearing on Virginia. Under her own steady heartbeat lay another, but no matter how hard he listened, he knew it was only one. Even twins with synchronised pulses could be detected. So, a single cub, a daughter, as Virginia had said. One growing at an accelerated rate. Maybe she was just in a hurry? More likely the Goblin Underland had affected her. Of course that didn't explain why she had made her mother suddenly allergic to moonlight. He found himself wishing that some of the older, wiser half-wolf's like Elsie were still around to talk to. Maybe they knew things that he, growing up mostly isolated from his kin, did not. Wolf suddenly found that he just didn't want to think, or worry about it anymore. What mattered most to Wolf was Virginia. As the cubs settled, she dropped her hand to rub absently at her stomach. At least there had been no more pain or blood loss. Wolf knew well that a woman could die from a troublesome preganancy. Briefly he perused the idea of returning her to New York and placing her under the care of Dr Natalie Green, who at least would not faint at the sight of a baby with a tail. Virginia tiptoed out of the cub's bedroom.

"They would be able to hear you even if you were as light as a fairy, you know" Wolf said to her as she went to stretch out on their bed.

"I know, but I can't get out of the habit" she sighed. Wolf crossed the room to lay down beside her.

"Virginia...I'd like you to go back to New York. Let Dr Natalie look after you, and the cub"

"There's nothing she'd be able to do, Wolf, not at this stage anyway. And I don't want to go back there. This is my home now"

"But..."

"No, Wolf". He heard the finality in her voice, though it was both a curse and a strength he admired in her.

"I could bring her here. She'd probably come if I asked her"

"You mean you'd ask, instead of trick and kidnap?" Virginia said, rolling over to pinch the base of his tail which had worked itself loose again.

"Don't joke about it, please. You could die, Virginia. I mean really die. Quickly and painfully. I've seen it happen to other women" he responded seriously, letting his inner fears show on his face. Virginia propped herself up on her elbows to stare into his face. There was a knock on the door before she could respond. Wolf snuffed deeply, learning the identity of the knocker.

"It's Scarlett"

"Don't frown so much when you say her name, Wolf. She's trying, really" Virginia said as she went to open the door. The tall blond Queen paused at the entrance before coming in and closing the door behind her. Wolf could see her pale blue eyes picking him out in the dim lit room. He made his tail wag, hoping it would make Virginia happy with him that at least he was making an effort to be friendly with Scarlett. But it only seemed to entrance the young Queen. Her eyes followed it as it swung back and forth. On impulse, he spoke softly to her in wolfen.

_"Don't you like it, woman? Does it make you want to touch it? Does a part of you want to move in response?". _Though it would have been barely audible, Scarlett cocked her head to one side. For less than a second, Wolf was sure she'd understood. The she blinked, and the moment was gone as if he'd never spoken to her. He made his human face smile widely at her, a signal she could read with more ease, at least. Virginia glanced at him curiously. She undoubtedly knew that he'd spoken in his native tongue, and Wolf was glad suddenly that she no longer had the capacity to decipher the words.

"Is Wendell still trying to talk to the Summoning Mirror?" Virginia asked Scarlett as the two women settled on the lounge.

"Yes, he and Cinderella have been in there for days now, but it still keeps laughing and saying rude things to them. The dratted thing ought to be tossed out of the nearest window! I asked him if he would come down to lunch, but he said no"

"What is it saying to them?"

"It says that neither of them has the 'strength of spirit' to address such a mighty creation as it seems to think it is" Scarlett said with a huff of annoyance. "Perhaps you could..."

"No" Virginia said shortly. Wolf heard the fear in her voice. He couldn't blame her. In many ways, she _was_ just like her mother. Strong, determined, ready to do what was right. No matter the fact that their ideas of what was 'right' varied so greatly.

"We've had more tidings of the traditional type anyway, haven't we? No need for Virginia to try the Mirrors. Perhaps you could toss the thing out sooner than you think" he said. Virginia smiled at his attempts to defend her.

"Yes, it's true, though the tidings are weeks old at best"

"Who did we hear from?" Virginia asked.

"Leaf-fall ranted on for quite a while in her missive. Elves and fairies don't suffer spells against them lightly, it seems. And none of them have been able to break the hold the Eigth Kingdom has placed on their lands, invisible or not. They sent their emmisary back to the Ice Queen in several pieces, I believe. The Fifth Kingdom is in chaos. They've always been the most liberal of people. The Naked Emporer has refused to leave his bed and has his silly tailors trying under pain of death to come up with a warmer outfit for him. And Old King Cole the Third is at a loss without his pipe-weed and his fiddlers can no longer play because their fingers are frozen to their instruments"

"Merry no longer" said Wolf from the bed. Scarlett glanced over at him and joined his rueful smile guardedly.

"No indeed! From the Sixth Kingdom there is no response, of course. They'll probably miss the whole thing, as usual"

"When's that curse due to run out?" Virginia asked. Wolf answered her.

"Umm, no one's really sure, but most people think it'll be within ten years. We have to wait for the right 'prince', of course"

"Hmm, wonder what they'll wake up to" Virginia said, her face pensive.

"Do you remember, Wolf, years ago when the rumour went round that Wendell was 'the' Prince?" Scarlett said, laughing into her hands. Wolf nodded at her, recalling the whispers when he was a young cub. But he was more surprised that Scarlett had actually just addressed him, albeit with only a touch of friendliness. Yet it was more than she usually used, and Wolf found himself reappraising her, despite his own misgivings. If only the taint of wolf blood on the hands of her family could be erased. Wolf knew well that the majority of wolfen people would not sit at ease with this Queen as he was doing. The setting sun outside was giving way to the rising of the full moon. For a moment, his vision blurred, his wolfish instincts cresting. _Queen or not, she's just meat. Lets make her run? _His wolf mind nudged, wanting control. He jumped awkwardly as one of his sharp canines pierced his tongue.

"Wolf? Are you alright?" It was Virginia, bending over him. The pulses in her throat throbbed with life. For a moment, she was so close...

"Ahh, yes, fine" he said, a little too lightly. "Just the moon" he added in a whisper. She touched his cheek, her fingers coming away damp from the sweat there. She went back over to the lounge. Scarlett was sitting rather rigidly now. Wolf sighed inwardly. Now he'd gone and scared her again. Goodness knows what he'd looked like just now. He knew he should go out, and soon. There was a muffled yelp from the other room. Wolf identified Alice's whimperings and was on his feet before Virginia had even turned her head. Inside the cub's room, Alice lay twisting and turning in agitation, her eyes wide and vacant as they stared at the ceiling.

"Alice, wake up honey. You're dreaming" Wolf said in their language, touching her sweating brow. The little girl-cub did not seem to respond to his words. He shook her shoulder gently, repeating himself.

"What's happening?" Virginia spoke from behind him. Scarlett went to the other side of the bed and Wolf was suprised when she reached to retrieve Caelum, who had edged backwards in confusion and was about to topple out onto the floor. Still tossing amid the covers, Alice's mouth moved silently as if she was talking to someone in her dream-state. It was an eerie sight, making his neck hairs stand up. Suddenly her back arched off the mattress and the pitcher of water in the corner of the room shattered, spraying everywhere.

"Zaphira! Zaphira! The cursed Arrow! Zaphira!". The small child's voice roared with effort, far beyond it's normal volume. Alice collapsed back into the covers, her eyes now roving this way and that. Wolf reached to grip her throat firmly.

"Alice, wake" he said, using his full measure of status to force her body to obey. She went limp in his arms as she woke. Wolf held her close, crooning the soft wolfish lullabies that his mother had once sung to him. He paced the room until she came back to her senses. Her brown eyes focussed on him with difficulty. Virginia came to stand close and Alice peered at her from under her damp hair.

"Mother?" she asked timidly and Wolf felt his heart clench in sympathetic pain. Virginia reached to smooth back the cub's curls.

"No, Alice. I'm your Aunt Virginia"

"I want...I want my mother"

"I know sweetheart"

"Alice?"

"Yes?"

"What's wrong with Zaphira?"

"She needs help, right now. We need to go there and help her"

"And then what, Alice?" asked Virginia, a strange smile on her face that Wolf could not place. He looked at the shattered pitcher.

The girl-cub and Virginia were locked in their gazes on one another. Wolf felt chilled, and sadly, excluded. Alice smiled widely.

"Then, she will help _us_" she said.


	10. Chapter 10

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Ten

After the events of the afternoon, Alice settled back into sleep as though nothing had happened. Wolf pressed his ear to the cub's bedroom door, listening. Just the soft breaths and fluttering hearts of the little ones. It was fully dark now, and the moon called him fiercely. He went to stare at Her through the window, taking note that Virginia had retreated well into the room, away from the rays of light that spilled fitfully from breaks in the clouds. She and Scarlett were finishing a light dinner of smoked fish and pickled vegetables. Wolf was hungry enough to eat the curtains, but he held his appetite in check, knowing he'd be hunting later on this night. Fresh blood and life spurting was what he craved. Maybe there were other wolfen folk who roamed nearby tonight. He could join them perhaps, pooling their skills and craft to bring down larger game.

He wanted Scarlett gone from the room at the very least! But the infernal woman seemed quite happy to settle on their couch for the evening. She seemed edgy. The tension in her was quite apparent to Wolf. He thought about what he had surmised about her and half smiled at her blossoming awareness. Well, it was more than time enough. Were she not a Queen, Wolf knew he would have delighted in awakening her to her potential. But royalty were different. Born and bred to power and command. To Wolf she was both an equal and an underling. Then she rose from her seat and suprised him utterly.

"I will go" she said. Wolf glanced at Virginia curiously. Go where? Scarlett seemed to be addressing a whole room full of people instead of just the two of them. "To...Zaphira. The one the child spoke of" she added. Wolf watched Virginia carefully. Her face seemed to relax all of sudden, and Wolf felt a sudden surge of gratitude to Scarlett. Of course Virginia would have been planning to go there herself! Wolf felt foolish for not seeing it sooner. At no matter the risk to herself and their child, she would have gone. But now things had changed. Virginia reached to tug on Scarlett's hand, pulling her back down to the lounge they were sitting on.

"Are you sure, Scarlett?" she asked.

"Oh yes Virginia. And yes, I know that you were planning to do this very thing yourself. I saw the look on your face straight away. But you cannot risk yourself or your child in this"

"Really obvious huh?" Virginia replied with a rueful smile, and Wolf calmed the sudden fear he had of her making such an arduous journey to rescue what might not even be a real dragon. Or even a live one.

"And so why do you wish to go there Scarlett?" he asked her from his spot on the windowsill.

The blond haired Queen stared at him levelly. "Coven Lake is in my Kingdom, of course. I can command men and assistence there that no one else could. And help will be needed if anyone is to reach this place in good time" she answered, and Wolf heard the sudden doubts in her voice. So, she had fears over her rule? Virginia had told him the measures and changes that Scarlett had put into place before coming here. An open royal proclaimation, no less. Starting immediately, wolf's and wolf descendant folk were to be given a place in Second Kingdom affairs. It would be a gradual assimilation, a breaking down of the long held barriers. Wolf could only imagine the uproar such a thing would have caused. The folk of the Second Kingdom were fiercely loyal to their royalty, he knew. And Scarlett had many relatives, including younger sisters and brothers, any of whom could prove themselves eager to take the throne in her absence. Not unlike a wolf pack in many ways, he saw. Opportunitism played a key role in leadership battles. Scarlett had been a guest of Wendell for nearly two months now.

His wish for her to be gone from the room just so he could ravish Virginia seemed trivial now. Wolf stood and proferred Scarlett the tiniest of bows, a gesture that was not lost on anyone.

"Wendell won't be happy" Virginia mused aloud.

"No, but his place is here, with his people. I hope I can convince him of this. It'd be just like him to want to come after me. Thinks I need protecting all the time he does. Typical man" Scarlett answered, though Wolf could tell she wasn't really angry, but touched by his devotion to her.

"Still, he has a point of sorts. These are dangerous times Scarlett. Quite apart from the cold and snow, who knows what other manner of dangers now prowl the Kingdoms? Every creature is desperate for survival"

"I agree. Though I still have my few soldiers who escorted me here, and Wendell may lend me a few of his own men"

"He will I'm sure. But I'd still feel better if you had some...local help. You know, the kind who knows things that men may not" Virginia answered. Wolf felt another thrill of fear rush through him. Darn it, but he knew _exactly_ what she was hinting at! For a second the two women stared at each other, communing silently on a single thought. Wolf could barely meet their dual gazes when they turned to face him. His wolf mind howled in protest as his human mind formed the words.

"Very well my love" he sighed. "If Scarlett is determined to go to this dragon, then yes, I'll go with her"

"I'm not asking Wolf..."

"You don't need to my beauty. You never need to"

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The carriage springs creaked as footmen and soldiers leapt on and off, securing the luggage and other necessities. Every creak felt like it was being echoed in Wendell's heart. She was leaving. Driving off into the worst weather anyone had ever known. Wendell had offered to send his whole beleagured army as an escort for her, but she had refused just as he'd known she would. Only her own men would she risk, she had said. And Wolf. How Virginia had persuaded him to undertake this mysterious journey he could not even guess. They had no friendship between them, Wolf and Scarlett. Wendell looked for his friend, but he had not yet appeared. Most likely still upstairs bidding Virginia farewell in the very manner Wendell wanted to do to Scarlett. He blushed at his traitorous thoughts, both cursing and welcoming the fact that they even existed in his life. He tried to picture in his mind Scarlett wearing a lavish wedding gown, walking down the aisle to meet him. Would she wear white, or red? But thinking about wedding days of course led his mind back to wedding nights...and darn it, here came the woman herself!

He knew he was entranced and probably rather dim witted looking as he stood at the base of the grand staircase watching her descend. She was graceful, no exaggerated moves, no glitches or stumbles. He admired her composure. She was wearing her traditional red, but it was a new style cloak that he'd not seen before. Scarlett saw him looking at it.

"Do you like it? It's a gift from Virginia and Lord Antony. Some strange fabric from their Kingdom, they say" she said as she reached the end of the stairs. Her maids bustled ahead of her, taking the last of her personal belongings out to the carriage. For a blessed minute, they were alone.

"Scarlett, my Queen...don't go" he whispered, feeling his voice catch. Lord but he must look like some lovelorn oaf!

"I have to, Wendell"

"No, you don't. You can stay with me. You can send someone else to do this, whatever you mean to do..." he stammered uncertainly. Partly the uncertainty lay in the fact that he knew, he could sense that Scarlett had more on her mind than simply returning to her own lands. She was full of secrets, but the gentleman in him refused to bully them from her.

"I need to go. I need to return to my lands. I don't trust my siblings, I don't like the rumours that have made their way here" she said softly but firmly.

"_This_ can be your Kingdom now, my love" Wendell continued, daring to take her delicate hand in his own. But it was a foolish statement, as they both knew. Scarlett was, and forever would be, the Queen of the North Second Kingdom. Regardless of who she married, or even where she lived her days. The problems with ambitious relatives was not one that Wendell had ever had to deal with, but he believed her fears. Her brave changes and new laws would not have been welcomed by most, just as his hadn't been. Annoyingly, he was counselling himself with her own arguements, the same ones she had used when she had first told him of her plans a week ago. Someone brushed past them roughly.

"Come on then, lets get moving" Wolf said as he stomped out to the front doors. "We'll be lucky to make it ten miles before it starts dumping again" he added brusquely, peering up at the gray sky. Scarlett's maids were already ensconsed within the carriage, their solemn faces betraying their dismay at setting out in such horrid weather. Wendell wanted to cuss the silly women suddenly. Didn't they understand that this could be the weather for the rest of eternity? Wolf tossed his small satchel up onto the roof, where it landed with a much louder thunk than it's size indicated. Wendell wondered what he'd stowed in it. Probably food pilfered from the kitchens. He looked back enquiringly at Wendell and Scarlett.

"I'm going now" Scarlett whispered, her voice finally betraying her upset. Part of Wendell was crushed by her sudden tears, but another part of him responded with a strange brand of happiness. She weeps for us! Forgetting all their stifling royal customs, he took her in his arms, right there on the steps in full view of many. He kissed her mouth, not at all chastely, and she responded willingly. When he pulled back, they were both ruddy cheeked and gasping. Most of the passing courtiers and servants forgot to pretend they weren't looking. Wendell found that Scarlett's tear streaked grin matched his own.

"Be my..."

"...Happy Ever After" she finished for him. Then, in a great swirl of ruby cloak, she was gone from his arms. She took her seat in the carriage without a backwards glance and pulled her hood close over her face. Still on the ground, Wolf huffed and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'silly humans', but Wendell saw his friends face was also darkened with emotion. For a moment, anger crossed his features, bringing the lupine feralness to his stance. Wendell shivered involuntarily in response.

"Take...care of her, Wolf" he said softly. Wolf's woodland eyes bored into his as he turned to leap up to sit near the driver.

"As you will care for mine" he said shortly. He looked up to the windows above, mouthing a silent farewell to someone who undoubtedly stood there. Then the driver took up the reins and with a lurch the carriage moved off, leaving great trails from it's wheels as it rolled down the drive. Wendell ignored the biting cold until it was out of sight.

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Upstairs Virginia also stood watching the carriage disappear behind the curve of the road. Wolf's hidden anger and dismay seemed to trail after it like a thin wisp of steam to tug at her conscience. The truth was, Virginia would never have asked him outright to go with Scarlett. But totally observant creature that he was, she'd been unable to hide her thoughts from him. That didn't change that fact that he had still been unhappy about it. In the few days it had taken to get the expedition organised, he had wavered between an almost desperate need to be close to her, and a curious detachment. More than once Virginia had caught him staring at her with a vacant expression on his beautiful face. Others might have thought him cold and dangerous when he looked like that, but Virginia knew him better. It was a pragmatic side to him, a lupine mind at work behind his human visage.

This morning he'd been withdrawn, not even really taking an interest when she made those physical signals for him to lovemate with her. He sighed and fussed with the bedclothes, his eye fixed on his small satchel that he'd hung over the bedpost the night before in readiness. Virginia followed his gaze, wondering what he'd stowed in it. It was small but sturdy, and Wolf had politely refused to let her near it for days. She hesitated over asking about it but decided to let him keep his secrets. What manner of things could a half-wolf truly need anyway? Totally self sufficient as he was, he could either hunt down or steal whatever he needed. But Virginia had carefully stowed a light scarf of her own in the pocket of his long coat, a little something with her scent on it to lead him home again.

She rapped her knuckles against the glass, a reminder to herself not to dwell on such thoughts. Of course he would return. A little hand tugged on her skirts.

"Mama". Virginia reached down to pick Caelum up and balanced him on her hip. His fingers made grubby trails on the window glass as they stared out togther. Caelum's profile as she looked sideways at him was looking more like Wolf's by the day. He was growing quickly too, already a few inches taller than he had been at the beginning of winter. She watched his snubby nose twitch and turned to see another small shape flit past behind her.

"Alice, stay inside please" she said to the figure. Alice paused midstep and Virginia wondered whether she would challenge the request. Virginia recalled overhearing Wolf and the girl-cub arguing fiercely in their own language in the previous few days.

"She wants to come with me, to the Lake" Wolf had told her later.

"You can't possibly let her Wolf. This is no holiday for children or cubs"

"Yes, I know that, Virginia" Wolf had answered with a barely detectable note of annoyance. "But she's not my cub and she knows it. I've...impressed on her the need to follow her father's will in all matters, and since he is not here, she has little choice but to follow mine"

"And me?"

"Maybe. I don't know"

"But she's not a pure half-wolf. Surely the human gypsy blood will play some role in her life. As a human guardian, surely she will listen to me in some regard"

"It's the gypsy blood that's part of the problem, Virginia. Damned stubborn people, and smart too. She'll outwit you if she can. A half-wolf cub should not even begin to argue with her alphas" Wolf had concluded, his hand running over Virginia's hair and shoulders. Now, Virginia watched as Alice contemplated her with solemn eyes. She had claimed to have little memory of her strange dream, but Virginia now suspected otherwise. The girl blinked, withdrawing her gaze to the floor, and Virginia felt a moment of relief, knowing it to be a concession of sorts. Caelum twisted restlessly in her arms to be put down and Virginia sighed. Yet another charge who would need watching. Wendell had told her of his escapades when she and Wolf had left in search of a cure for her werewolf curse. She had feared the moon then, and now, as her hands caressed the bulge of her new child, she knew that she feared the Goddess again.

"Lucine" she whispered, "don't take my daughter".

_Peace, child. All will be well._

Virginia half startled at the whisper, looking involuntarily around the room as if expecting the Goddess to materialise. There was no one there, of course. Only Wendell, who stood now at the door. His empty expression was the mirror of her own. He crossed to the window and fumbled for her hand. His own grip was icy.

"She'll be okay Wendell. Wolf will look after her" Virginia heard herself say.

"I hope so. But I just can't get the thought out of my head that my darling Queen has something more planned than a visit to straighten out her relatives. And it's such a dangerous time to be travelling. Who knows what might happen? I shouldn't have let her her go..." Wendell muttered, fussing at the curtains and wrinking them under his clenched fists. Virginia felt a pang of guilt at his ignorance, but it had been Scarletts call to make. Now, as she watched Wendell, she was glad he didn't know about the dragon. He would be out of the palace in a second if he knew.

"You could not have stopped her Wendell. Besides, would you have a weakling woman as your Queen? Isn't her strength of will what you admire in her? Besides, many things may happen that need not be bad things. Who knows, she might even stumble across some long dead legend driven out by the cold" Virginia said carefully, watching his expression. "Like a dragon or something" she added. Wendell merely smiled sadly at the sky.

"Then it would probably be the last of it's kind. No dragon-folk have flown over the Kingdom's since long before my father was born. I can't imagine my Scarlett ever finding one, or even if she believes in them"

_Not the last._

"No, not the last" Virginia echoed the words unconsciously.

"Sorry? What was that you said?" Wendell asked her.

"I...I don't know, Wendell"

"Ah well, it would be a sight to see to be sure. My grandfather used to tell me tales that his father told to him, all about the dragon-folk and their wind dance amongst the clouds. And something about their firey breath..."

_The Sacred Fire_. A warm gust of air followed the words through the room.

"Well, those fine machines your father brought us from your Kingdom certainly seem to be working well today" Wendell said as he turned to go. He would go straight to the Mirror Room, Virginia guessed, to beg, plead or threaten the Mirrors to show him his Scarlett.

Later in the night, that warm air, man made or not gave her little comfort as she stared hard into the small room ajoining her own. Caelum snuffled in his blankets, his small hands reaching out in his sleep for another cub who was no longer there.


	11. Chapter 11

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Eleven

After several days of rolling and lurching, Scarlett had definately decided that she disliked carriages immensely. She cursed inwardly and clenched her hands together beneath the fur of her wrap. Surely it had not taken so long on the forward journey? But the days flew when one had hopeful daydreams to fill the mind with, as she had had then. Now, her mood, sombre enough at leaving Wendell's side, had inevitably darkened as the miles drew her further away from him. No matter the fact that she was returning home. They had crossed the border finally this morning, and yet already the Second Kingdom seemed a foreign land to her. She was it's reigning monarch, it's Queen and yet not the head of her family. That title was Auburn's still. Scarlett wondered where her mother was. Had the snow and foul weather finally driven her from her estate in the north? Was she even now prowling the corridors of Hooded Castle, a withered and biting crone terrifying the servants once more? Age had certainly not mellowed Red Riding Hood's eldest daughter.

Scarlett remembered their last conversation. Auburn still had the presence to almost make Scarlett automatically curtsey when she entered the royal chambers. Almost. Scarlett's journey through her Kingdom and to the shores of Coven Lake and back had changed her. That, and that which she had learned. Scarlett had eyed her mother levelly, and had taken some small measure of pride in knowing that Auburn had seen the woman emerge from the girl she had been.

Auburn had seated herself on the well worn chaise that had once been her own. "Are you still using this old thing then? Surely you could commission another chair for your use, daughter". Scarlett had not missed the hidden meaning. So, she resented being drawn here, did she? And yet, she _had_ come, and swiftly enough too.

"I like it well enough"

"And not only this do you like" Auburn said, her eyes glittering. "If the rumours are to be believed, of course" she added sagely.

Scarlett fought down the blush that was rising to her cheeks, and yet strangely she had the impression that it was not Wendell that Auburn was referring to, but the wolves.

The carriage lurched, jolting Scarlett out of her reverie. One of her maids leant out the window, looking ahead. Her face came back dusted with snow.

"The road's blocked again, My Lady. 'Tis the third time today too" she sighed. Scarlett shifted uncomfortably. Darn it, but it would take _weeks_ to reach the castle this way! She looked out the window herself, up at the sky to try and judge the time of day, but she had no such woodland skills to find her way by.

"It's past the midday" said a voice from above. Scarlett pursed her lips as Wolf swung down from the roof of the carraige where he'd spent the better part of the journey thus far. It was bitingly cold, but he seemed content only with a single long coat and woollen trousers. With his tall boots to plow through the drifts, he appeared to actually revel in the unending blizzard that had coated the whole world. Scarlett did not bother to wonder how he'd known what she had wanted to know. He had demonstrated an almost uncanny knowledge of what was going through her mind. Embarrassingly so in most cases. Scarlett swung the carriage door and stepped out into the snow. They were in a forested place. The main road between the north and south lay miles to the west and this road, little used due to the fact that folk generally did not travel between Kingdoms, had fallen into disrepair.

As her guards and serving men made to dig out the carriage Scarlett found herself wandering amongst the trees. Once, the very thought of being in the forest would have caused her nightmares for a week. The old legacy of her family. Now, she placed her hand tentatively against the bark of one old giant. Further on, a young sapling sprang gladly to it's full height when she reached to shake the ice from it's branches. A few steps away, another young tree bent over under the icy weight, but as Scarlett reached to shake this one gently she was utterly surprised to hear a gentle, lilting melody. One of the branches was alive, and as it moved she beheld a slender creature not unlike a stick in itself. The little stick hummed it's tune. Scarlett could see it's black eyes looking at her.

"It's a dryad...a tree guardian" said Wolf in her ear. Scarlett stilled her urge to leap away from his closeness, even though she had long gotten used to his sneaking up on her.

"You don't need to explain everything to me. I know what a dryad is!" she snapped tersely. Wolf didn't blink at her retort.

"But you have never seen one" he responded and Scarlett knew that she had no answer, for it was true.

"It's singing" she said, turning back to the little creature as it swung slowly on it's branch. The tune filled her ears till it seemed the whole forest was enveloped in it. The skin on her back prickled. "Is it...thanking me?" she whispered, then suddenly feeling foolish for dreaming of the notion. She heard Wolf snort appreciatively behind her.

"He does indeed"

Scarlett stepped back a way and nodded her head to the little dryad. They came in as many sizes and shapes as did the trees, she remembered learning as a child, yawning over her books and scrolls. To a child of the Riding Hood clan, dryads and other woodland sprites were simply classed as being 'wolf friends', creatures of the wild intent only on trapping any child who strayed across their path. Her younger brother had once fashioned a fake dryad out of an old branch a storm had blown into the innner courtyard. Scarlett could not recall if she had truly been frightened of the mannikin or not.

The dryad had laid itself down along a branch, it's long fingered limbs clinging tightly as the chill wind moved it's sapling home to and fro. A rustling in the undergrowth caught her attention. No, not a rustling. A heartbeat. It thudded in her mind.

"See...under the ferns..." whispered Wolf. The beady eye stared at them as if frozen, but it was the faint twitch of the long ear that gave it away. "Do you want it? Are you hungry?" Wolf breathed. Without waiting for an answer he pounced suddenly, leaping a full six feet to land in the exact spot he needed. The rabbit squealed as he hefted it, and it was a totally mesmerizing sound to Scarlett's ears. Wolf's long canines bared to finish the kill. The bones in the neck snicked and the scent of fresh blood tainted the air. Wolf licked at the gash he'd made in the animal's skin. "You want some" he said politely, not a question at all, really. He held the limp body under her nose, dangling it. Against her better judgement, Scarlett felt her nostrils grow wide to catch the smell. Fresh blood...so strange and coppery. Was it salty or sweet? _What...are...you...thinking?_

Her not quite empty stomach rebelled finally, the gorge rising to dispell any sensations the dead rabbit might be giving her. She felt dizzy, uncertain. The strong tree supported her as she leant against it. Wolf moved closer. "Go away" she hissed under her breath, "take that thing away from me".

"As you wish" he murmured, his eyes glittering with amusement, and something else. Perhaps a strange kind of respect. But before he withdrew he reached out and dared what so few had ever done. He touched her face, fingertips so gentle as he traced a line from between her brows to the tip of her nose. Scarlett couldn't have protested this invasion of her personal space even if she wanted to. His lupine eyes held her as captive as the dead rabbit in his grip. Then he was gone, slipping away into the forest, leaving no sound or sign of his passage. Scarlett felt her head clearing, breath returning. Anger and confusion crested and washed away. The dryad peeped at her from it's branch, silent now.

"Tut tut my Lady! You shouldn't wander so far. These woods are dangerous! Let's go back, the men have the carriage clear". The voice, a coarse sounding noise from her maid filled the clearing. The maid offered her arm, leaning close to peer up at her. "Ah now, what's that you've got? On your face, it looks like blood it does, my Lady" the maid chattered on helpfully as they drew near the coach and team. Scarlett put her hand up to her forehead, feeling her fingers come away damp. The maid frowned in distaste, but Scarlett ushered her into the coach. Wolf had already returned to his post on top of the carriage but he did not meet her stare. Just as well, Scarlett thought angrily, as she absently brought her fingers to her lips.

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Yacobe pushed his powerful body through the deep drifts that lay across the border between his home Kingdom and the Fourth. It was physical work he was used to and he paid his aching body no mind. Only his mission was important now. He reached a lip of a valley he had traversed before and stood looking down. Several leagues to the south lay the Castle White, and to the east, the Fairy Kingdom. West lay his people's ancient homeland, now the Second Kingdom, but once called by another name, the Wolf Woods. That great expanse of forest was all but gone now under the loathsome weight of human settlement and expansion. Humans who feared and hated what they could never control. Not for the first time, Yacobe wondered how and why the remaining populations of wolf-kind still endeavoured to exist there.

His own clans had deserted the Kingdom generations ago, to stake out new territories and hunting grounds in the far north. Yacobe knew that most other people's thought of the Eigth Kingdom as a barren wasteland, but his kind had flourished there. It was a harder life, to be sure, than the soft and green lowlands, but there was an invaluable trade off. Only the best and strongest survived. Yacobe did not feel any particular empathy with his lowland cousins who even now would be suffering under his Queen's touch.

_His Queen_. Oh yes, she certainly was. Her transformation, whilst not a complete surprise, had still been stunning to watch. Where had she come from, this royal foundling? Where exactly had Neva discovered this child who was now her heir? Yacobe recalled his first sighting of the babe, held close and well wrapped by her nursemaid, the Queen Neva standing behind, a strange mixture of love and craftiness on her face. Rumours had abounded from that day foward, running the length and breadth of the Kingdom, fascinating to the humans and wolf's alike. Now, that which Yacobe and others of his clan had sensed in the Princess had come to fruition at last. Yacobe had not minded prostrating himself before her, and in truth he could have done little else lest he forfeit his life. And he had taken her commands seriously.

Only one problem remained, an ancient foretelling that loomed over his and every lupine future in this world. And he knew, in his secret heart, that he would soon be making a decision that would affect not only his future, but of all wolf-kind in these lands. And one more._The moon-shadow child_.

Despite his inner turmoil, he felt eerily blessed to have been chosen by the Goddess.

Brushing the ice from his coat, he resumed his journey south.

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Dinners at Castle White had become more morose by the day thought Virginia. Were it not for the ever increasing population of villagers and townfolk who had been driven to shelter here, it would have been a dank and silent place tonight. Wendell's royal dining room had been taken over by refugees in past weeks, so those remaining members of the royal inner court now took their meals in what had once been a small study off one of the lesser wings. Glancing at Wendell sullenly picking at his food, Virginia thought that he would have been just as uninterested had they been forced into one of the many broom closets. The King sighed loudly, tugging at his stiff collar in agitation.

"Curses! Would that I could just leave all this...pompousness" he muttered, tossing the offending necktie away into a corner "and endless infernal duty!".

Virginia reached to take his hand. It wouldn't do for the servants to hear such dispirited words from their beloved King. "Hush! There's nothing either of us can do about it right now" she whispered across the table. "I myself would much prefer to be out of here as well, you know!" she added, unable to hide her own bitterness. Wendell choked out a rough laugh.

"Look at us! What a sorry pair we make!" he said, his eyes brightening for a second. Virginia was glad of a glimpse of his old self. Then he sobered again in thought. "They should be nearly there. To Hooded Castle I mean. Even accounting for the worst weather they must surely be drawing near to it"

"I wish we could know for sure"

"Scarlett will send a carrier bird"

"If it gets through"

"It will" Wendell replied, voice firm and sure where his eyes were not. He tossed his table napkin ungraciously across his half finished plate before glancing aside at her. "And how are you, Virginia?" he asked casually, but Virginia knew he referred to her pregnancy. He could hardly avoid mentioning it, she thought uneasily, given how obvious a figure she now presented. Her hands caressed the infant as she crowded out her mother's form, day by day.

"I feel well enough, Wendell" she said evenly. She had not told anyone else about her strange moonlight allergy that Frederick the priest had surmised. She was tired enough of the stares and whispers, well meaning or not. Wendell's old midwife who had attended Virginia before had found many 'excuses' to visit Virginia in the past weeks. The crone's eyes had glittered with curiousity more than once, and Virginia knew it was only her status as semi-royal figure that had kept her from being dragged off and examined at every opportunity. Not that she could blame the women's interest. No one had seen a 'magical' pregnancy for the longest time, apparently. Almost daily her girth expanded now, and at only fourth months she was just shy of the size and weight she had been at Caelum's birthing. No amount of bulky coats could hide that now.

"This babe _is_ in a hurry" Wendell added, before blushing furiously. "Not that I would know anything about...such things...women's things, you know..." he trailed off. As if she knew she was being discussed, the infant rolled over in Virginia's womb, tiny soft feet pressing against the uterine walls. Virginia smiled at the movement. In spite of her worries, Virginia knew that her mothering instincts were still in full working order, and deep down she knew that nothing was unduly wrong with her little daughter. She hadn't needed any deity whispering that fact to her, not at all. She just wished more than ever that Wolf was by her side. If the birth was to come ahead of schedule, then she wanted_ him_, not some sour faced stranger.

"Well, I did spend some time in the Goblin Kingdom, and time most certainly runs differently there. One day seemed like three in the 'upland', as Clayface called it" Virginia said finally, though she knew it was only part of the explaination. But Wendell seemed to buy into it, nodding and smiling at her.

"Well, here's hoping it all ends happily ever after" he intoned in a ritualistic tone. "Any sign of little Alice?" he added. Virginia felt yet another pang of worry at the cub's disappearance (cripes! was motherhood all about endless worrying!). But she knew where Alice had gone, and had an inkling of why. As for the survival of such a small cub in the vastness of the snow covered Kingdoms, well, that primarily was out of anyone's control. The girl-cub had determined to follow Wolf and Scarlett and so she would. Although Virginia did not fancy having to explain this to Willem whenever he decided to return from his Eigth Kingdom 'recon' mission. Briefly she wondered where her brother-in-pack was, and if he was well and whole.

"No, she'll be well on her way by now. I wonder if she'll just walk into their camp and announce herself. Or maybe she might just hide. Wolf will certainly be angry enough with her, that's for sure!"

"And an angry Wolf is not to be ignored" Wendell added.

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She knew she was dreaming. She had been here before. Or rather, _up_ here. The villages and roads were so tiny, so insignificant. Despite humankinds' grandiose ideas, they were still outnumbered a thousand to one by the natural world. The wind was soft and cool against her. So good to be so free, even if it was a dream.

Something shifted. Stone grinding on stone, a tiny movement far below where she slept. A piercing beam of thought, so delicate, questing upwards. Rhoswen pressed her back into the hard pallet, trying to rouse herself. She didn't want to found by that...thing.

In her dream, she tilted in flight. Huge mountains loomed over the land. Behind the mountains...what lay there? Urged on by an unknown force she crested the snow caps to look down onto a sharp and narrow valley, a long frozen lake running the length of it, with a solid waterfall cleaving to the broken sides of the mountain. _Let me go! _A voice screamed in her mind. Was it hers? She was dimly aware of her body thrashing against the floor of her room.

A great blackness filled her vision as she struggled to wakefulness. Like standing in the shadow of some monstrous thing.


	12. Chapter 12

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Twelve

The great stone walls that ringed the Hooded City did not quite drown out the teeming mass of humanity enclosed within them, thought Wolf. It was a low rumbling roar to his ears, starting quite some miles before the city came into view, and now as he drew nearer it threatened to drown out all other senses. He didn't like it, even though he'd stood before these walls before. But then he hadn't had to actually go inside like he was about to today. Few wolf's ever had, save those captured and sent to trial for whatever crime the humans had imagined for them. Under the rabble of noise he listened for the sound of his own folk. A pitching whine or growl, too low for human ears, perhaps even a lilting howl, but there was nothing. But he could smell them. As the great iron gates swung open to admit the royal carriage, he scented them. Mingled and almost drowned by the stink of men, but they were there nonetheless. He wondered what sort of living they managed to eke out amongst the people here. Were they newcomers from the winter storms perhaps, taking up Scarlett's nascent offer of shelter to all?

He clung to the back of the coach as it rumbled under the heavy archway, eyes downcast and tail well concealed behind his longcoat. The crowd that had lined the streetway seemed a lot more subdued than they had been a few months ago when Scarlett had ridden, triumphant and glowing from her 'adventures' on Coven Lake. Wolf risked glances at the people from under the brim of his hat. Their great town had not been able to withstand the ravages of the Eigth Kingdom's touch, it seemed. They looked dispirited and cold, mean hearted and hungry. Wolf hoped that they would not have to stay here longer than needed. He hoped Scarlett still wielded enough power here to garner them the supplies they needed. Still, it would be nice to get out of the snow for a while. Though he had suffered not as greatly as the humans with the harshness, he had still suffered. His winter coat thankfully had grown itself in record time and he had let his beard cover his face, but the exposed skin was still chafed and wind blown. And it had only grown colder the further north they had come.

"The Queen! The Queen returns to save us! Help us, Lady Riding Hood!" several voices raised as they went past. Others just stared, or mumbled together on huddled doorsteps things that Wolf's ears could not catch. Wolf wondered what Scarlett was thinking as she rode back into her Kingdom's greatest town. Was she looking sideways, out at the people, or was she craning her neck ahead, trying to catch a glimpse of the Castle, her home? Despite what Scarlett believed, Wolf did not know everything the Queen was thinking. Oh, he certainly could read her easily from her body's own language, but so often she sat so still and quiet that he wondered if there were any thoughts in her head at all. Beneath him in the carriage, he knew her heart thudded uncomfortably and sweat prickled her skin. Her anxiety did not suprise him. He knew she'd had second thoughts about the whole expedition from the first day they'd woken, far from Castle White, adrift in a world of freezing hostility. But she hadn't gone back on her word, and for that he'd come to admire her somewhat.

The Castle Keep of the Riding Hood family came into view finally. Perched initially on a small rise, it had grown over the years, spilling down the nearby streets in an untidy jumble of halls, barracks and stables. It had none of the romantic grandeur of Castle White, or Cinderella's Glass Palace, but it dominated the city nonetheless. Guards in the unmistakeable ruby red livery stood aside as the porticullis was raised, flourishing their lances deferentially as the coach swept through into a large courtyard. Serving folk were hard at work sweeping the new snow into drifts against the wall, where others scooped it painstakingly into buckets to be tossed over the ramparts. The driver pulled the weary horses to a halt before huge wooden doors set into stone. The door was intricately carved with an oversized man skewering a wolf. The wolf lay pinned to the earth through it's ribcage, and in the background was a small girl rejoicing with her grandmother. As Wolf gazed on the gruesome scene, the doors opened from within, neatly bisecting the carving so that one one side stood the girl and the hunter, on the other, the wolf and the grandmother. Wolf very nearly laughed at the irony. Perhaps whoever had carved the door had known more than they were supposed to?

He jumped down from the footmans perch, glad to feel solid, unmoving earth under his boots again. A young man, barely more than a youth had come forward. His rich red cloak betrayed his status as a member of the immediate family, and Wolf guessed him to be Scarlett's younger brother. He had a regal stance to his pose, and Wolf immediately suspected that this youngster had enjoyed ruling in his sister's stead a little more than he ought. Wolf busied himself with unloading as he listened with wry amusement at Scarlett putting such grandiose visions in their place. She berated him a full two minutes on the state of everything, from roads to housing, to food and fuel allocation, to the state of the courtyard. It was a very chastened young prince who finally escaped his sister's notice when she moved to question her castellan, but Wolf did not miss the angry retorts than clouded the youth's face before he could control his expression. Looks that were mirrored in more than a few of the courtiers and advisors who now crowded through the doors.

Finally Scarlett seemed to tire of her scathing commentry, and she turned unexpectedly to beckon Wolf forward with a wave of her hand. All eyes were on him as he came to her side. They knew him for a stranger, certainly, but did they truly even guess at what he was? Wolf could not help but to quickly assess his surroundings. It was his wolfen mind, always thinking ahead, planning an escape route should the situation turn ugly. All of a sudden, he had doubts over Scarlett. Maybe she had been more upset than he'd known when he'd blooded her a few days ago. Perhaps she'd only been waiting until reaching the safety of her castle before turning her men on him. Was even now, somewhere in the city, a carpenter shapening his tools, waiting to carve yet another gruesome scene into some doorway?

But Scarlett's eye's, when she turned to him, were grave. Wary, yes, unsure, certainly, but not hostile. Wolf hoped his sigh of relief was not as audible to them as it had been to him. But the Queen had heard it, and a corner of her mouth quirked upwards slightly in response.

"This is Lord Wolf, consort of the Lady Virginia of the Fourth Kingdom. He has...assisted me on more than one occasion, and I expect him to be treated with the greatest respect" she intoned, her voice soft but allowing no further comment. One by one, the courtiers and noblemen bent their heads, not quite to the level that they would normally use to greet one of their order, but it was there nonetheless. Wolf felt Scarlett's relief as keenly as she had felt his, and it made him realise just how much she had banked on them accepting his prescence. Perhaps she herself had been looking for a back door of escape as well. Wolf hestitated as the royal court moved to follow Scarlett as she entered the castle doors. Finally, when there were none but himself standing there, he went swiftly up the steps and crossed the threshold. On the top step were two serving women, one an old crone with many generations of age stamped on her withered face. As he passed, the crone bent to whisper to her younger companion.

"Well well, never thought I'd see the day!" she cackled merrily. The other maid looked sideways at her, aghast.

"Oh, but tis such a...what's the word...such a travesty! To think, a wolf freely crosses the seal of the great House of Red for the first time ever! What is our world coming to?" she replied with heat. But the old crone just laughed.

"First time ever? Oh my dear, dear girl, how young you are!"

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Virginia sighed with annoyance as she discovered yet another set of shoes that had seen the attentions of her son. She shook the chewed and mauled footwear under his nose. Caelum's cheeks pouted defiantly.

"No, Caelum!" Virginia growled at him "Not the shoes!". The cub's eyes were wide with seeming innocence, and Virginia wished for the hundredth time that she could still speak the wolfen language like she'd begun to learn when she'd carried the werewolf blood. Though she didn't doubt that her son understood her perfectly anyway, no matter his blank expression. He just couldn't seem to leave leather alone recently. Anything unattended was fair game for his developing teeth. Virginia had looked in his mouth on several occasions, happy to see the normal looking human molars peeping through. But the tiny sharp piercings in the leather gave away the prescence of his lupine fangs. Elsie had told her about them before she'd left to go back to the forest some weeks ago. Caelum still squatted on the floor, gazing up at her with his liquid green gaze. A cherub's face when he wanted it to be. Virginia reached to tuck his shirt in around his little belly.

"I'll see if I can raid the kitchen again. Get you something proper to gnaw on, huh?" she said. The cub's eyes brightened at the mention of the word 'kitchen'. "Ah yes, you understood _that _didn't you?"

She went to the window to look out on the black sky. A carrier bird had arrived that morning with tidings from the Second Kingdom. Wendell had coming rushing into her room at dawn, flourishing the tiny bit of paper from the pigeon's leg.

"They made it! Scarlett and Wolf, I mean. They arrived yesterday. Wolf will probably be heading back to you within days, I'll warrant" Wendell had gabbled out before running off again. Virginia had certainly been more relieved than she'd expected to be, even though she had not missed Wendell's hidden reproach. He thought Wolf would return to her, but not Scarlett to him. He had no clue that neither of them would be returning any time soon. They had a dragon to find, those two. She wondered what sort of journey they'd had, not just with the foul weather, but between themselves. Wolf had guessed far more about Scarlett than she had suspected, she knew that now. But then she would hardly expect any less from him, given his unique perspective on it. Virginia worried that he would overstep his mark and take things too far with the Queen. Scarlett needed time to come into her own, and Wolf was not the most patient of his kind.

Virginia turned back to Caelum, who was yawning as he sat by the wholly artificial heater that gave warmth to the room, powered by one of Tony's many generators that he and the Murrays had lugged from New York City. Keeping the machines fueled and running was becoming a round the clock job, but Virginia knew her father was revelling it in. And he had no doubt saved many lives as the refugees kept pouring in from the countryside. Wendell and his advisors had had many sleepless nights in trying to cater for all the folk, she knew. All this activity was making her feel redundant. Useless and hampered whilst others toiled for the good of all. Surely Coventina must be disappointed in me, she thought unhappily. Her hands felt the smooth edges of the dragon's scale kept safe in her pocket. Was that all I had to do? Rescue the dragon? And I couldn't even do that much, she thought dismally, rubbing at her protruding stomach. But Coventina and Lucine had known about the babe all along. They had not removed the werewolf's taint from the infant, as to have done so would have caused it's death. So they had said.

Virginia felt her stomach grumble and sighed again. To the kitchens indeed! Even though it was perpetually gloomy these days in the corridors, clocks kept the bulging castle population to a regimented routine, lest chaos rule the passages. It was past nine in the evening, and most were bedding down for the night. Scores of villagers, humans mostly but with occasional clusters of fairies, brownies and other folk, lined the floors of nearly every availible space, wrapped up in whatever blankets they could scavenge. Virginia tiptoed past them as daintily as her swelling form allowed her, which wasn't all that easy.

The downstairs kitchens were all but deserted. Rows of bread tins, lined with dough rising for the next mornings baking sat atop the banked down hearths. Having retrieved Caelum numerous times from the pantries, Virginia knew exactly which one to head for. Long hooks held dried meats hung from the ceiling and Virginia took up a nearby knife to slice neatly at what looked like a bacon hock. That would keep her pesky cub busy for a few days at least, she thought.

The draught that blew through the kitchen was common enough these days, and Virginia paid it little mind as she wrapped the bacon and stowed it in her pocket. Just a guard coming in from the freezing night to warm his hands at the stove, most likely.

Upstairs, Caelum whimpered and wriggled his way down from the bed that he shared with his mama. He was hungry and the bed was cold. He pressed his nose under the door. Fresh baked bread, eggs boiling, smelly mousies. But no mama smell. He turned to the window. Outside, the sun tried to peep through the clouds. It was morning now, and there was no mama, anywhere.


	13. Chapter 13

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Thirteen

Wolf knew he was at a loss, and out of his comfort zone and he didn't like it one bit. Enclosed within the walls of Hooded Castle as he had been for days now, still he had barely ventured from the room they had so obviously set up in a hurry for him. It was a small, stone lined room with a narrow window overlooking one of the lesser courtyards. Nothing as lavish as his and Virginia's rooms at Castle White, and definately no warm mate to drive out the chill gloominess. Wolf tried to shift his position at the window so that he looked out in the direction he knew Wendell's castle lay, but he couldn't quite get there. Not for the first time, he cursed his 'volunteering' to escort Scarlett to and fro on what he still considered a crazy mission. She certainly hadn't needed him so far. The lands had been eerily quiet and deviod of life as they had passed through them. No one, human, wolf or other kind had accosted them. To Wolf's senses it had seemed as if the whole world was asleep, buried deep down, waiting the winter-spell out. He hoped they would wake with the spring, no matter how far away that season seemed now.

The courtyard onto which he looked was paved with slimy cobbles covered with slushy dark snow. Footprints criss crossed it. A half-wolf had passed across it recently. Wolf had scented her easily during the early hours, but they had not spoken. What did she think, scenting himself inside the castle? Did she think him a prisoner? In a sense, he was one, but only in the limitations of his mind. Sleeping with the enemy, no less. Well, not literally, but close enough. Under their roof, partaking of their meat, placing his very life in their hands. Not that he hadn't scouted the nearest escape route from his room to the city, just to be sure. Scarlett was the Queen, and her word law, but Wolf had little doubt the castle was full of young men who could easily be tempted to arrange a little 'accident' for him should he let his guard down.

Someone was loitering outside his door even now, but Wolf knew him for one of the pages that attended the Queen, so he waited for the nervous tap. He opened the door before the man had touched the wood, trying hard to conceal his delight at the man's discomfort. Ah, he was so naughty he was going get himself skewered! But he composed his face into what he knew humans considered a 'polite expectation'.

"My Lady Queen bids you attend her, in her rooms" the man said smoothly enough despite his fear smell coming from every pore in his sweaty skin. Wolf nodded at him, closing the door firmly and gesturing for the servant to lead the way. But having Wolf at his back seemed too much for the servant to bear, despite the fact that Wolf now had at _his _back an armed guard with what looked like a well used sword. But Wolf was well schooled in hiding his own fears, so he meandered down the corridors oh so casually, stopping every now and then to admire the many paintings and tapestries that lined the way. The decorations became more and more extravagent as they neared the Royal quarters. Two guards leapt to bar the way as they approached Scarlett's private rooms.

"Wolf, to see the Queen" stammered the servant. The guards peered at him with obvious suspicion, and one rubbed at his ear as if the very words had stung them. For a long moment, Wolf thought that they would refuse him the way. Stepping between them was like passing through a furnace of hatred. Great, now he had three armed guards at his back! The servant scuttled inside a pair of doors and Wolf heard him speaking to Scarlett's maids.

"That...wolf is here, as our Lady bid" he whispered. "I like this not, Sara" he added.

"Ah well...you know he was with us all the way from Castle White to home, and most polite he was. Who'd have thought it, eh? Why, just like a normal man at arms. No howling or killin' or runnin' off in the night. Took good care of us, he did. My lady spoke him fair enough, an' her guard respected him well, I saw" the maid Sara replied easily, and Wolf smiled to hear it. He liked the stout little woman and even more he liked her obvious desire to gossip. Perhaps her words were having influence amongst the serving and simpler folk who made up the bulk of the castle population. The doors opened and the page peeped out, beckoning him forward, but as he went to move, Wolf felt a large strong hand grip his shoulder. It was one of the guards.

"Watch yerself, wolf scum" he hissed loudly. "One wrong move in there an' I'll have more than yer tail as a trophy on my wall!". Then he released Wolf, pushing him off balance so that he lurched against the door jam. The other guards had wide smirks on their faces and Wolf had to use every effort not to wipe the smiles from them with their own entrails. He half closed his red tinted gaze and smiled sweetly, knowing that his bared canines showed through. He tore the door out of the servant's grip to close it himself in their faces, now white and clabbering.

"You really shouldn't bait them like that, Wolf" Scarlett said from the inner room.

"_Me_ bait _them_? Huff puff!" Wolf retorted too sharply, rubbing at his arm where the guard had bruised it. Scarlett frowned at him, but turned to dismiss her maids from the room. They withdrew, but not that far that they couldn't listen in if they wanted to. Scarlett rubbed at her forehead.

"My mother has been here all morning"

"Auburn?"

"Yes. She thinks I am a fool. Sometimes I feel I should agree with her. I moved too soon, you know. With the whole 'wolf equality' thing. I should have known what I was up against. So much hatred and misunderstanding, and few care to learn otherwise. But, when you've cheated death and found true love you do feel invincible. It's like a great rush of overwhelming confidence in everything. But I suppose you know about that"

"About the true love part, certainly. Those bits about being a Queen and all, sorry, can't help you there" Wolf replied, faintly amazed at her frankness. She had rarely been so forthcoming with him to date, and he wondered what had happened to the old Scarlett with her measured one line statements and veiled thoughts. The young queen was silent for such a long time that he wondered if he ought to dismiss himself. Only she had not called him here to complain only about her mother.

"Why did you do that...thing?" she asked finally, more to herself than to him. It was a vague question, but Wolf knew instinctively what she was referring to.

"Scarlett, do you truly not know?" he replied softly, watching her closely. "A wolf follows his instincts, and that's what I was doing" he added. Another truth, but one less complex than the former. The rabbit was warm and fresh, and she'd been standing there, with such a look of longing and a fractured understanding just beginning to bloom in her mind. He'd blooded her, a lupine ritual that had been performed on his own cub just a few months ago. Instinct had moved his hand that day. He supposed the implications of that had been swirling through her since then, even if she understood the significance of them. Or not. Maybe she had no idea of what he'd done.

She moved to her chaise, settling upon it for a scant few seconds before rising again. Once more her hands went to her temples, massaging the skin there. Then she met his gaze for the first time. Not the brief acknowledgement he had become used to, nor the wide eyed stare he'd caught her in once or twice. This was a full meeting of minds. Her turmoil washed over him, making his skin prickle. More than anything he wanted to snatch her up and run with her through the corridors, out of the sterile palace and into the woods. Where she belonged. But she was a Queen first and foremost, a leader of her people. So he stood, silent and still, and waited.

_"Don't fight us" _he whispered in the wolf tongue.

"I am a Riding Hood. It is in our very natures" she spoke. How brittle her voice! Wolf went to her as she stood, rigid and half entranced. Cupping her jaw lightly, he leant forward and kissed her brow where it wrinkled and puckered with tension.

_"And so are we" _he told her, but it was something she already knew.

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Virginia struggled against the cloying darkness. Wake up, fool! Her minds voice felt as sluggish as the rest of her. She inhaled deeply, vaguely aware of a dampness against her mouth, a sickly sweet smell flooding her senses, dragging her down with it. Visions, both beautiful and strange passed before her. There was a woman somewhere, weeping and cursing equally. A baby wailed with fear and anger, tiny limbs waving helplessly in the bitter cold. She knew that child. Resolutely, Virginia forced her mind away, willing it elsewhere, anywhere. A giant eye peered at her, out of focus behind an endless wall of ice. _A tomb for monsters and gods, this is, _someone said. The eye shrunk in upon itself, turning pale blue with a bright gold band encircling the iris. Focussing suddenly and sharply, Virginia knew she was awake.

Her hands automatically leapt out to strike the pale face that hovered so close to her own. But they swept through open air. He had retreated. From across the other side of a small fire, he squatted easily on his haunches. Virginia's surroundings became clearer. The floor she lay on was cold, but the air was warm and slightly stifling. A snow cave, she realised, seeing the enclosing white walls. Her eyes went straight to the narrow opening half way around the cave from where she lay. The sky was dark outside, but there was no way to tell immediately if it were night or day. Or even which day. She tried to sit up, but felt giddy and sick.

"Drink this" rumbled a deep voice. "It will help clear your head". His long arm reached over the coals, a small flask proffered in a gloved hand. Virginia stared at it suspiciously. "It is not drugged. Take it, please" he continued, in a tone that suggested he was actually offended that she had doubted it. Eventually, when Virginia refused to move an inch in his direction, he sighed at placed it on the floor at her feet.

"I am Yacobe..." he began

"I know who you are" Virginia interupted.

"...pack leader and alpha of the..."

"Ice Queen"

"...Bitterfire clan in the Northern Eighth Kingdom" he continued as if she had never spoken. Virginia thought hard on his introduction. Months ago he had announced himself the envoy of the Ice Queen and had been accepted as such. Had he been lying then, or was he lying now? Her head had begun to ache, the coals dancing before her eyes. "Sleep now" he said.

Sometime later, when she awoke, the snow cave was empty but for herself. The flask was still where Yacobe had placed it earlier. Thirst raged within her, but Virginia knew better than to try and eat snow. She picked up the bottle, sniffing warily. A faint tang of herbs. On her tongue it tasted like fresh water, chilled from sitting in the snow as it had been. She took only enough to slake her dry throat, although commonsense told her that there was little reason for him to drug her again. That had served it's purpose in getting her quietly out of Castle White. What a fool she had been, to not even turn and see who had come through the back kitchen door. She wondered how far she was from Wendell's castle. Had anyone even realised she was gone yet? Caelum would know, she thought angrily, imagining him whining in the darkness of their room, the one Virginia had carefully locked the door of before she'd left it. Someone would hear him, she counselled herself. Someone, in the morning, would walk past and hear him, surely. Worry overcame her momentarily and she gouged her fingers into the cold floor.

Only a rustle of falling snow gave his return away, slipping in through the hole so quietly that Virginia barely had time to muffle her yelp of surprise. He looked her over, obviously and carefully. "Good" he grunted, dumping a bundle of old wood on the floor. As he busied himself with tending the fire, Virginia had an opportunity to observe him just as closely. He was dressed simply in handmade leathers with tall boots and gloves. A long greatcoat reached almost to the floor, and a rough shaped hat covered his pale hair. In profile his face seemed angular and harsh, long planes giving him an almost feline look. But his tail, hanging free and full, along with his eyes, gave his origins away. A wolf indeed, and not just any, but a ghost wolf, the long sundered kin of Wolf's own people. Virginia tried to remember what Wolf had told her about them. Strong, quick and dangerous was the opinion he had left on her, mostly. Just as likely to attack their own kind as anyone else. Probably considered themselves superior to their southern cousins. Not the this Yacobe couldn't claim that aspect at least. He was impressive, as Virginia had first thought when he's appeared in Wendell's hall that evening.

But now he was an obstacle, between her and freedom. And more.

"My...my son, he needs me..." she began awkwardly in the silence.

"The cub is weaned, is he not?" Yacobe answered, staring quite pointedly at her breasts, which had begun to swell again with the new pregnancy. Virginia crossed her arms across herself, cursing inwardly the sudden heat in her face. Would she ever get used to the embarassing directness of wolf folk? But she nodded weakly, feeling sure that he would have known that anyway. "The new cub is well, within you" he added, as if he thought she needed to be told. Her anger crested suddenly.

"I know that. I am not a fool" she snapped.

Yacobe's eyes widened for a second, a hint of a smile playing about his mouth. "No, you are not. For a human". He reached for a thick branch, breaking it easily between his hands. "Get some rest, Blessed of Lucine. We will travel faster that way. And do not think to try and escape me. You are far from your home, and to do so would make you a fool indeed"


	14. Chapter 14

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Fourteen

_"Danger"_

Wolf startled awake at the nudge in his mind. Where, when, who? His senses scanned the night. It was late, and quiet, but not quiet enough for his ears. Whispers at the door. Wolf was on his feet within seconds, his hands groping in the darkness of his room for his boots and outer clothes. Outside, the murmurings continued.

"Ssh fools! It'll hear us" one man said under his breath.

"Course it will. I'm no fool. Should'a done it the way we planned" said another.

"Too late now, for sure. They'll be at the Queen's door. Wouldn't put it past her to warn the creature" said yet another man, and this one's voice made Wolf's blood run cold at the venom in it. He felt his heart speeding up as his nose told him of the type and numbers of men at his door. _More than we can kill_, growled his wolf-mind. Wolf almost whined in sympathy with it, but it was true. Escape was the only solution now.

He went to the window, looking out. No one moved in the darkness of the courtyard, and glancing down at the narrow snow covered ledge that ran around underneath, no one obviously expected him to risk it. On an ordinary day, neither would he, but he was moments from being made into a permanent exhibition in Hooded City. The old frame creaked as he levered the window open. Frigid air poured across his face, sharpening his senses. He spent a moment tightening the straps on his pack secured on his back. It was a cumbersome thing, and he'd be better off running without it, but he knew he couldn't leave it behind.

As he eased himself over the edge of the sill, he wondered what was going on in the Castle tonight. They'll be at the Queen's door soon? Was it a revolt then? How strange would that be? A coup had not happened anywhere in the Kingdoms for generations. Wars, trickery and horrible curses, certainly, but never a people rising up against their rightful ruler. If that was what it was. The city was silent, most citizens asleep in their beds at this hour. Would they know, or even care that their Queen was about to be usurped?

Out on the ledge, Wolf looked over to where he knew Scarlett's rooms were. Someone had lighted a candle, a figure passed before it, back and forth in an agitated pacing. She must know by now, surely. Were they even now rattling on her door as they were on his? How would she react, fear or anger? Wolf looked down, judging the distance to the ground. It would be long drop, but he felt confident enough. Just jump, then across the yard and out to the safety of the city. Easy enough. But he clung on, indecisive now. _Run, fool! _his wolf-mind hissed. Oh, how he wanted to! Get out of here, away from this doomed, wolf hating Kingdom. Back to Virginia and his cubs. Virginia would understand wouldn't she? Across the compound, voices now raised in Scarlett's rooms. One of her maids cried out in fear.

Wolf sighed and cursed at the same time. He swung his arm out to grip the roof eaves, pulling himself up to the sloping shingles. They were mossy and slippery, but Wolf had good balance. He scuttled quietly away from his room, hearing the soldiers finally gain entry. He froze as one went to the window, staring out.

"Must have jumped, fool wolf! Quick, to the stables. He'll go that way for sure" the man shouted back to his companions. Wolf snorted at the man's lack of intelligence. Announce your next move to the whole city, stupid! He continued across the roof until he was just above Scarlett's private balcony. Laying himself flat against the tiles, he listened in on the conversation below.

"Don't fight this, daughter. It has been decided" spoke an old crone like voice. Auburn, for sure thought Wolf. The elder stepping up to the reins again.

"You cannot do this. I am your Queen!" Scarlett retorted, and Wolf heard the steel in her voice, as well as an underlying quaver that he hoped only he could hear. She was afraid, probably more so than angry.

"You ceased that role when you took up with the wolves and their lovers" spoke another, this belonging to Vermillion, Scarlett's younger brother. Next in line to the throne too, of course, thought Wolf coldly. Damn the humans and their endless ability to covet power. Wolf scented the air for the man. No, he had not nearly as much wolf in him as had his sister. In fact, he had a different father. Wolf wondered glibly if the Queen Auburn had simply gone from one lover to another in her efforts to rid the 'taint' from her family bloodline. There was a ring of metal in the air and Scarlett gasped.

"You would draw blade against me?" she all but shouted.

"Sister, it gives me no pleasure to do this" Vermillion began, though Wolf could hear otherwise, "but here are your choices. You can renounce the wolves and go into exile, to whatever land you wish. Or, if you remain, defiant, then we will have little choice but to confine you against your will. We will mourn your 'loss' of course, but believe me, no one will ever hear or see you again. The dungeons are deep, sister"

"You dare!" Scarlett hissed. Wolf heard the sound of a hand striking a face. "I will never, NEVER, give up what is rightfully mine! You are ten times the fool Vermillion, as you always have been. Think that you can just reach out and take the throne of this land unchallenged? Think that the other rulers will stand for this? What of Gretchen, my co-ruler? What will you say to her? And Wendell? Do you think I am entirely without allies?" she continued to shout. Even though Wolf knew she was just making things worse for herself, still he had to smile to hear her true voice suddenly find an outlet in her. He was probably the only person to hear the wolf's voice under her human tones, but it was still a revelation. _Go on, girl, show them who you really are_, he urged her in his mind. But he could hear her panting with exertion and fear, and he knew she'd run out of steam finally. As did her brother, apparently.

"Enough, wolf bitch sister"

"Let go of me! At once!"

Wolf knew his moment had come. Saying a silent prayer to Lucine, he dropped over the edge and onto the balcony. In the room, with her back to him, Scarlett stood, grappling with her brother, other men moving in but looking hestitant to lay hands on her. Across from them, the stooped old Auburn, a strange mixture of regret and triumph on her face.

Wolf kicked in the doors.

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Wendell's stallion skidded dangerously on the ice. The King cursed under his breath, but he gave the horse it's head, helping the beast regain it's footing. It would do no one any good if he fell and was crushed.

"Virginia!". The sound came from across the field. It was Tony's voice, cracked and frozen with cold, but still loud enough to rouse half the kingdom. Wendell watched as the older man slumped ever so slightly in his saddle. Once again, no reply, no response at all from the surrounding wilderness. They had been searching for nearly three days now.

Into thin air. That's what it seemed like to Wendell. Disappeared without a trace from his own castle. She had been taken, that much was clear. Flightly and headstrong she might be, Wendell knew Virginia would never just up and leave her child behind like that. One of the maids had found the cub three mornings ago, crying and whimpering in an empty bedroom. Caelum had been distraught beyond anyone's ability to calm him. It had taken only an hour or so to realise that Virginia was no where to be found in White Castle. Caelum had led them unerringly to the kitchens and thence to one of the rear service doors, but beyond that the clean snow fell to erase any tracks or scent of her.

Wendell had called on his best trackers, and even those wolf families who had come to live out the winter in the castle grounds, but no one could reliably find the trail that Virginia and her captor had taken. North, south, east and west, Wendell had sent out his soldiers within the hour. Now, as the sun set on the third day, he began to entertain the idea that she probably would not be found, though he refused to believe she was laying cold and still in some snow covered ditch.

Virginia would not be dead. She was too...important.

Tony's horse stepped wearily up to his side. Wendell avoided the bleakness in the other man's eyes. Tony had scarcely eaten or slept since finding his daughter missing. He had personally combed every square inch of the Castle and it's immediate grounds. He was a driven man, and Wendell found a moment to admire him despite the onerous task they were undertaking.

"Happily ever after! pah!" Tony spat. Wendell sighed and shook his head. It was no use trying to explain the complexities involved in that glib statement to Tony, an outsider. Only a true native of the Kingdoms understood the layers and layers of that deceptively simple sentence.

"Not today, Tony" he murmured, but he doubted the man heard him.

"Why don't you look again in those cursed Mirror's of yours?"

"I have, Tony, and I will look again, but you know as well as I that I have not the strength to control them. That sort of mastery takes years to accomplish" he replied bitterly. "Virginia herself destroyed the last remaining Mirror-mage, her own mother no less. Do not blame me for what I am unable to learn now" he continued, feeling the growing weight of helplessness on his young shoulders. I am a poor scion of my family, he thought. I will die, crushed and childless under the onslaught from the north, the last of my line.

_Not the last_.

Wendell started, unsettling his horse again. Who said that? Not the last of my line? He hated the whining hope in his own mind's voice, but he wanted to know.

_No, silly. The Mirror-mage. Christine was not the last_.

"But who then?" he asked aloud, drawing a strange look from Tony.

_Think._

So he did, until finally, when Tony reached over to shake his shoulder, thinking he'd fallen asleep or something like that, the answer came to him. He turned a smile on Virginia's father.

"Tony, I have been a stupid man".

Tony clucked his teeth together. "No you're not Wendell. And I don't blame you, not for anything"

"I know that. Now, will you accompany me on a foolhardy and dangerous mission once more, my friend?" Wendell asked, turning his horses head in the direction he knew he should have gone before. He heard Tony mutter and curse under his breath, but the sound of following hooves filled the dense landscape behind him.

They rode hard through the long cold night, and when dawn found them they sat astride, looking down on a foetid land. Wendell gazed at the edges where ice and snow had frozen the slime filled bogs and he found it strangely satisfying to see that his was not the only kingdom so afflicted. As they dismounted to lead their horses forward, one of the steeds stepped awkwardly on an old wooden sign half buried by snow.

DEADLY SWAMP.


	15. Chapter 15

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Fifteen

The wood splintered under his heels as Wolf launched himself into the room. Surprise entries were an effective display of bravado that Wolf had used on many occasions, and he allowed himself a moment to enjoy the looks of shocked surprise that everyone in the room now wore. But only for a moment. As the guards blinked and started to react as the trained killers they were, Wolf leapt the few feet to his side that brought him within reach of the most obvious target in the room.

The old queen writhed in his grip, with an undignified squawk of fear. Wolf let his strong grip relax on the back of her neck just a little. "Hello Auburn. I am Wolf" he whispered in her ear. "Your men, you will tell them to stand down. Now" he added, watching the guards closely. They seemed at a loss. Some still had their lances trained on Scarlett. Others were looking at Vermillion for some signal, but the boy had gone as pale as a sheet. As Wolf watched, Scarlett managed to extricate herself from his grip on her arm, backing up now to stand in front of her crying maids.

Standing alone now in the middle of the room, Vermillion seemed to come back to his senses, too quickly for Wolf's liking, but he knew then just how deep the hatred ran in that room for wolfs and their kin.

"Release my mother" the boy said, his voice shrill.

"I will not"

"I command it!"

"You who refuse to treat with the wolfs cannot hope to command them". This was Scarlett now. In the corner of his eye Wolf saw her draw herself together again. It was admirable, he thought, but ultimately useless. They were hopelessly outnumbered. Escape was the only option now, with a hostage preferable. His hostage kicked feebly at his shins. The old woman stank of fear sweat, but underneath it all the rage and revulsion pulsed. Wolf wondered if she would vomit from the disgrace she felt at having one of them touch her. He shook her, just a touch, to let her know who was in charge.

"Stand the guards down, Auburn, or I will break your neck, and not with my hands either" he said, loud enough that the whole room heard it. Vermillion turned to them with the barest of nods. One by one, swords slipped back into sheaths, knives into holsters, but the hate could not be put aside so easily. Outside in the corridor, Wolf could hear more and more of them assembling, whispering, planning their moves. He had a scant few minutes, he knew, before sheer force would tempt them to make a move. He wondered idly if Auburn would even care if she died. But he couldn't give her the time to come to that decision herself.

To Scarlett he said in a low tone "Take what little you need. We are leaving". She almost opened her mouth to protest, but turned to whisper to her maids. They scattered fearfully into the far room, her bedchamber.

"We are at a temporary impasse, it seems" Vermillion said coarsely, trying to muster his bravado but failing miserably. Wolf smiled sweetly, letting his canines flash for a second before he turned to speak to Auburn again.

"You chose poorly for this whelp's fathering, old fox. Too much human blood will erase all manner of useful traits from your line, you know".

"I would wipe your ilk from my very bones if I could!" the aged queen hissed.

"Ah yes, but you never will, you know. It's _in _you, and all who come down from that line will carry it. Drive them out if you will, select from your newborn those which seem pleasing to you and _discard _those who don't, but you will never, never cast out the wolf from your great grandmother's bed".

"What, what is this the wolf says?" broke in Vermillion. Sweat broke out on his forehead. Behind the prince, Wolf could see the faces of the guards, each of them trying to make sense of his words.

"Lies! Don't listen to it. They will say anything, you know that" Auburn grated. Wolf tighted his grip on her throat, but he only smiled in response. Let them believe what they would. Ultimately, it made little difference to him though it might prove to make all the difference to some.

"Here's what will be happening, boy" Wolf said into the charged silence. "Scarlett and I will be leaving the city tonight. Auburn is going to give us the guided tour, aren't you?" he said, rattling the old woman's bones. "You will ensure us safe passage, and I will return your old fox to you unharmed. Will you treat with me now?"

Across the room, Wolf watched the prince run the deal through his mind. He tested the grip he had on Auburn, feeling her weight. This was the most dangerous part. Which way would the boy go? Wolf had chosen his words carefully, and spoken them in a precise way that he guessed would appeal to whatever trace of wolf the boy had in him. As the decision clicked into place, Wolf allowed himself a moment's relief and a trace of smugness into his face. The boy had capitulated like a lower class wolf to an alpha, and he hadn't even been aware of it.

The barest of assents, but it was there. "Very well, wolf. But let me warn you now. Not a hair on her head will be harmed, or I will hunt you down and kill you myself" he grated, becoming emboldened by his own speech. Wolf let him puff himself up a little, unconcerned. Behind him, Scarlett now came to his side. She had a small satchel slung over one shoulder. Her face was white with anger and regret, and a new thing, a cold calculation that would have turned even Wolf's bones to water had she directed it at him. But her treacherous brother averted his gaze from it, as did most of the guards.

"Let's go" she said softly, taking charge once more, even in her exiling.

"The Queen comes forth!" barked one of the guards. "Stand down your weapons!". A narrow corridor opened up and Scarlett lead the way forward, Wolf carrying the scowling old woman in front of him, his belt knife at her throat. Wolf could scarcely keep from baring his teeth as the atmosphere of hatred and fear swept over them as the left the castle. He had never felt such hostility, not even from the townsfolk who had burned his parents. As they mounted mangy horses quickly saddled by frightened ostlers, he wondered dimly if he was not inviting a greater calamity upon his people.

As they clattered through the dark streets, followed on all sides by the Red Guards at a discreet distance, he let a series of low, long howls spread throughout the city.

_"My people, awake! The Queen is overthrown, flee now for your very lives! The Queen has flown!"_

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Virginia felt awkward and clumsy, and it embarassed her. She had a wolf as a mate, did she not? She should have been making a better account of herself. She felt sure that any half-wolf woman would have put up more of a fight, or at the very least made a more dignified approach to being hustled along through the snowy forest pathways. As if in response to her thoughts, her feet slipped sideways again, slumping her into a thicket of stunted bushes. Wet snow slid down her back.

A strong arm reached to grip her shoulder. "This will not do" Yacobe murmured. Virginia was too exhausted to do more than make an attempt to throw his hand off as he helped her to stand. In the frozen forest, she stared at the tall ghost wolf.

"You can't expect me to keep up. I'm too heavy" she said, cradling her protruding belly. "Do you want my child to die?".

His eyes widened in sudden fear, she thought, though his voice betrayed none. "You are right, Virginia. I have...little experience in matters such as cub bearing, but in truth I had not expected you to be so hampered as you have been". Virginia didn't know whether to be insulted or not by this.

"Well, welcome to a woman's life stupid man-wolf..." she began tiredly. Spots swam before her eyes.

"What I meant was that when I first saw you a month ago, I would not have guessed you to be this advanced, with the pregnancy. When I left to fetch you here, I was sure you would be able to travel safely. If not for your scenting, I would not have recognised you in the castle kitchen".

"This has not been a typical pregnancy" Virginia replied, wondering not for the first time if perhaps her apparently trouble free carrying of Caelum was the unusual one in this world.

"No, it would not be. And it has been remiss of me to not take this into account". Virginia thought on what he meant. How much did he know? Was he just guessing, bluffing? Or did he in fact know something of what it was that was growing ever quicker, day by day, inside her? She knew he wouldn't answer, so she refused to ask.

"So, what will you do?" Virginia she asked instead, though it irked her to remind herself of his control over her. Despite his early warning, she had indeed attempted an escape. It had been both frightening and humiliating just how easily he had recaptured her. Both her arms sported bruises from his merciless grip, although she had been unharmed otherwise. As from the beginning, he was typically polite and softly spoken, even if he never seemed to hear her pleas, threats or curses.

The shadows were growing longer as the day ended. Soon, they would have to seek shelter for the night. Yacobe had been incredibly efficient in digging out a new snow cave every night, for which Virginia was grateful not only for the relative comfort, but also for keeping out of the moons rays. She had not discussed with her captor the unusual reaction she'd been having from the moon, and once again she wondered if he knew anything about it. He had been there when it first happened, but did he guess that it still continued? Thankfully he had given her an enormous thick cloak which not only protected her from the intense cold, but from the moon itself in those few times it broke through the cloud cover.

"I need to rest" she said bluntly, meeting his cool blue gaze. Yacobe merely nodded, as though she was the one in charge of their little mission. Within a few minutes he had all but disappeared into the newly formed snow cave, only his feet and tail tip visible. Whilst she waited, Virginia took some time in studying the landscape. It was all depressingly the same. There were no obvious landmarks, no mountains or settlements that might have given an indication of where they were. With no paths or roads of any kind, she might well have been in the middle of literal nowhere.

Virginia slouched at the base of a tree, easing the ache in her back and legs a little. She wondered vaguely what Yacobe would do if she simply sat down and refused to move another inch. Probably carry her, slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Baby or no baby, it would be an uncomfortable ride. She fell to thinking about Wolf. Far away to the west he probably was right now. Her trail would be months old before he returned to take it up, most likely. Wendell would have sent out hunting parties for her, she reasoned, but surely they would have closed in on them by now. Yacobe was an excellent woodsman, walking well behind his captive to ensure not a twig or thread showed to lead others up their trail. She shivered with cold and underlying desperation.

"Are you cold, Virginia?" It was Yacobe, brushing down his clothes with quick movements.

"I'm tired. And sad, and frightened and angry. And yes, it's making me cold" Virginia retorted, pushing past him to enter the scraped out cave in which a small fire was already kindled. Later, when Yacobe had returned with two scrawny rabbits and was busy spitting them over the coals, he watched her under his lashes like she was a thing he'd not ever seen before. "What?" Virginia exploded, tired of the scrutiny.

"Sad and angry I can understand. Tired is only natural. But you don't need to be fearful, Virginia" he said finally.

"No? You're dragging me to my death at the hands of some half-crazed ice witch, and god's know what she'll do to my child, and I shouldn't be scared of that?"

"Death comes to us all, Virginia" he began, with something like puzzlement and wry amusement on his face. Virginia wanted to scratch his eyes out suddenly, so calm and yet so threatening he was. "But you assume too much, a fault common amongst your people. It has never been my intention to hand you over to my Queen".

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Wendell cleared his throat uneasily in the gloom. His mood of adventure and sudden heroism had failed dismally. He wondered why he'd come here, to all places. Here where his families ancient enemy still held sway over the shadows and the muck. Boots squelched behind him. Tony was muttering under his breath.

"Can't believe I've ended up in here again" he was saying. Wendell though he'd caught the older man humming an odd sounding tune as they'd tramped through the swamp. Wendell himself had heard no music other than the furious beating of his own heart.

The falling down cottage was just as Virginia had described it. Wendell had had no trouble at all finding it in amid the dreary trees and frozen over bogs. After all, it's exact location had been marked with a large red X on a map in his study that had hung there since his father's day. Under the X was a boldly written admonishment, "Don't Go Here". Wendell tried to picture if the swamp witch had a similar map posted anywhere in her grimy residence. It probably had a red target on it, with an arrow pointing to it's centre. "Aim Here". Well, she had struck close to the heart of many of Castle White's inhabitants, his own the most recent and the worst. His parents had died at her bequest. And yet even when he had learned of the truth, still he had been afraid to come here to exact the revenge he so sorely wanted.

_I'm a coward. No wonder Scarlett has gone. It was only inevitable that she would see through the facade and discover the wretched boy that I am underneath._

"Are we going stand here freezin' our butts off all day?" Tony grumbled. "If this goddam witch knows where Virginia is, then lets go down there and ask her. Real friendly like" he continued, looking anything but. Watching his friends' face crumple at the mere mention of his daughter's name gave Wendell a sudden spurt of confidence.

"I hope I can be as good a father to my children, Tony, as you have been to Virginia" he said softly. A random image of Scarlett bending over a sleeping infant wafted through his mind. In his thoughts, she turned to smile at him, a radiant thing that miraculously banished all doubts from his mind. _Come and meet our daughter, my love._

The rotted door gave way under their combined pushing. Wendell noted that someone had wedged the thing shut with splinters of old wood and stone, and he suspected Wolf had done it. He recalled hearing Wolf and Virginia discussing whether or not to destroy the place and it's inhabitant. Virginia had been most insistent to the contrary. Wendell wondered if she'd had some insight into the forthcoming events, or perhaps there was some other reason. She had never fully disclosed what had been said between her and the witch. Hera. That was one thing Wendell had learned. The crone's name was Hera.

The steps down to the basement were slimy, and so was the cold handrail when he went to grip it awkwardly. At the bottom he was suprised when he was able to step into the room with barely a hesitation. But then Tony was blundering down right on his heels, so he'd had little choice. Along the length of the floor in the centre of the room was the tomb itself. Green marsh light illuminated the room. Soft dripping and gurgling were the only noises. All around the edges of the room, tucked in corners and propped up by stone pillars were mirrors. Wendell was faintly amazed at how many there were. The ones Christine had procured from her predecessor were obviously only a small part of the entire collection. Or maybe they were the only ones that still worked.

"Prince Wendell". The voice was a woman's. Old, cunning, fearsome tones reverberated through the room.

"It's King Wendell to you" Tony answered shortly. Wendell turned to see him standing over the open tomb, looking in with an obvious disgust on his face. Wendell wanted to pull him away. Couldn't the man see how dangerous she still was? Tony sidled to one side, giving Wendell full view of what lay in the stone coffin. It was a corpse exactly as Virginia had described it. A dead thing with eyes and mind alive within it. Wendell shuddered in revulsion. How she must hate me now. All her hatred for my family, look where it has gotten her. His sense of justice flared within him strongly. He stepped boldly up to the coffin.

"Oh yes, dearest Hera, it_ is _King Wendell White. You have in your keeping something I want. And let me assure you, there will be no poison apples to bargain with, not this time"

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The ice hurt her now. Crushing even the toughest, most hardiest creature ever devised in the world. The silver fish, frozen as if leaping a waterfall, had all but disintergrated under the onslaught. Only a few scales glittering in the darkness remained. But she did not worry over much about the water spirit that it had housed. It was far older than she, and far more adaptable.

The sharpness had almost pierced her outer skin now. Right under her breast, she could feel that which had now passed out of her sight. It made her laugh with irony, to think that even here, buried and half-asleep under the ice in the remotest reaches of the world, still the arrows flew, true and strong.

In her dreams, the sky was soft and warm. Far away, encased in his own prison, her lover waited. In her dreams, he spoke in the ancient language of fire..._come, rise up and fly once more!_

'Oh my love', she thought, tasting bitter ice on her tongue, 'if only I could'.


	16. Chapter 16

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Sixteen

They left the darkened city well before dawn. Two sweating horses with three riders crunching through the ice crusted fields that once provided all the bustling township needed. But no more. Wolf glanced aside at Scarlett as he led them off the main road. It was the most obvious route to take, given their unofficial 'escort'. The moon hung low, obscured by clouds, but still to Wolf's mind they were like sitting targets as they crossed the fields. Too visible, even for the dull eyed human followers. A dark smudge on the horizon drew him to kick the thin boned horse into a canter. Scarlett's horse stumbled but she kept her seat, ploughing along in his wake.

Wolf's horse was doubly burdened tonight. Across the front of the saddle hunched the old woman. Wolf had a strong arm around her waist, his small but sharp belt knife pointed into her scrawny belly. He'd been ready to use it on more than one occasion as they'd fled the Hooded City. Expecting an arrow in the back he'd been ready to honour his threat. The old woman whined and thrashed weakly. She stank, of fear and sweat and urine. Her heart was thudding so wildly that Wolf thought that she might expire on her own with no help from him needed.

A part of him was human enough to register the shame of so terrorising an old woman, enemy or not. But as always in times of stress and escape, he relied on those traits that would ensure his survival. His wolf mind, cool and calculating, listening under the keening of the wind for the proper functioning of his hostage's heart and lungs. Just a few more miles, he told himself, and then...what? Let the old crone go? Miss his chance to wipe a cancerous lesion from his people's existence in this land?

He looked back to Scarlett again. She was swathed in a great dark cloak, so unlike her usual bright reds that she seemed almost a stranger, not the famed Queen she was. Or had been. A gust of wind caught her robes then, causing the hem to flap loosely and Wolf smiled to see the rich ruby lining that shone in the dim moonlight. He nodded to himself at the timely reminder. Born a queen, this one, regardless of the descent of that birth.

The trees swallowed them almost without warning. Wolf felt some of the tension leave him at being under some cover from the trees. This well tended and tame forest was not quite what he was used to, but it was better than being in the open. He drew them to a halt and slipped down from his horse. Giving the reins to Scarlett, he backtracked down their trail. Half way across the field, their pusuers cast back forth, seeking their quarry. Wolf snorted as the inexpert riders lost the line time and time again. But it was inevitable that they would eventually be discovered. He was sure that Auburn was counting on it, at least.

"We need to leave the horses behind" he said quietly to Scarlett as he returned. "They leave a trail that even the stupidest tracker could find".

"We'll go the slower, and be unable to escape without them" Scarlett replied, but she was sliding down even as she spoke, rummaging through her saddlebag for the small kit of supplies her maids had thrown together. "Shouldn't we keep her with us a while longer?" she added. Wolf felt his insides chill at the coldness of the way she addressed her mother. Even the crone seemed to hear it, hunching down further into the saddle.

"No. Her journey ends here" Wolf said calmly, half dragging Auburn down into the snow. She glared at him defiantly despite her fear. She thinks I'm going to kill her, thought Wolf. It would be a fair enough assumption on most days. Scarlett came to stand next to him, peering over his shoulder at the withered queen.

"I want to kill her" she said simply.

"The old make way for the young, in wolf and man alike" Wolf said evenly.

"She would have stood by, you know, even if Vermilion (curse him) had killed me. Once she discovered the truth that I have come to, I was nothing more to her than a thing to be discarded. An imperfect mistake, just like...just like...my sister Rose". Scarlett moved up to cup her mother's chin in one hand. "Tell me, mother mine, did you weep that night, at all? Did you hear that baby scream with the cold as you left it on the windowsill to die?" The old woman swayed as Scarlett shook her, back and forth. Her head wobbled violently and a rictus of a smile broke over it.

"Oh yes! I wept...I wept! How dare you suggest that I would not"

"But it didn't move your hand, did it? You never even thought to save her" Scarlett's voice was breaking now, hot tears steaming in the cold night.

"How could I? That child was wrong, it was deformed...it had..a tail! All those things my own mother admonished me for, all those horrid temptations I avoided, and still I birthed this monster! How could I live with the shame?"

"And so you put it around that the princess was stillborn, and you had the midwife executed, the father banished and never to be seen again, and took for yourself another husband, and oh how relieved you must have been when I was born. A perfect looking replacement, and you could go about your life ignoring that most obvious thing, that it was from _you_, from your own great ancestor that this blood came into our family". Scarlett let go of Auburn so suddenly that the old woman tumbled into the snow. Under the huddled figure, Wolf knew she wept the most bitter of tears, but it was little comfort to Scarlett now. Wolf watched as bit by bit the young woman gathered herself together, a masterful display of wolfishness that made him want to howl with delight in spite of the ugly secrets that had just been laid bare to the world. He put his hand out to grip hers.

"We should go. What do you want to do?" he asked, gesturing to Auburn who had not moved from the ground. Scarlett nodded once and turned on her heel.

"Leave her. She is all but a corpse already". She slung her small bag over her shoulder and looked back at Wolf almost impatiently, eager now to be gone. But as Wolf gathered up his own supplies and cast around for the right direction, she turned back momentarily at address the weeping figure in the tattered robes.

"Farewell, mother. One day, I hope my lost sister will stand before you, and I behind her. Your tears will not serve you then, I fear"

"I do not fear the afterlife. And your sister is long dead" Auburn croaked, raising her head finally. From behind, Wolf could almost feel the smile that Scarlett sent her way.

"Ah no, my mother, in that you are wrong. She is not"

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"You've got to be kidding me" Virginia exclaimed angrily. Yacobe stood calmly as ever under her ire. In one hand he held the long lead attached to a fat mule. Where he had gotten said mule in this wilderness, Virginia had no idea. It hadn't been far, obviously, for he hadn't even bothered to restrain her before he's left on his little side mission. It made Virginia realise how far she was from help if he'd expected to have no trouble in recapturing her. The mule chomped on it's bit, making a grating sound that set her teeth on edge.

"You cannot walk as fast as I need you to, Virginia. You've become exhausted quicker than I had planned" Yacobe said evenly.

"What's the hurry?"

"You don't really want to birth out here do you?" he replied, eyes running over her form. Virginia felt a moments panic at the thought. But surely, even big as she was, there was many weeks to go before that time. It was true though, she no more wanted to give birth out in the wilderness than she wanted Yacobe to be the only one attending it. Something he's counting on, no doubt, she thought unhappily. The lands they were travelling through were harsh and unforgiving, not unlike her ghost wolf captor.

The mule grumbled as she silently mounted, a difficult task given her size. She was reminded of the old adage that pregnant women should not ride, but then the mule looked most unlikely to go anything faster than a plodding walk, and she had to admit it was nice to be off the cold ground. She had been sure her toes were getting more frostbitten by the day. They moved off slowly, Yacobe leading the mule through the sparse woodland. Virginia swayed with the motion of the beast, vaguely daydreaming of snatching the rein and hoping the creature would bolt back to whatever warm stable it had been stolen from.

"Where are we going?" she asked eventually. Yacobe looked back over his shoulder.

"I told you. To my people"

"The Ice Queen is not part of your people then?"

"Yes and no. She is not born of our Kingdom, but if one were to step forward and be our next Queen, then she would want to be that one. But she is young, and yet to come into her full potential. And her step-mother feels threatened by her now" he replied. Virginia tried to puzzle out what he meant. Her glimpse into Coventina's mirror gave her some clue as to who he referred to, but obviously the woman in question was still under the rule of the older Ice Queen. To Virginia this seemed both a bonus and a further complication. And yet Yacobe so plainly referred to _her_ as the Queen. Perhaps the older Neva was not such a player in the game as she thought. All the unknowns were making her head ache.

"Tell me about your people"

"We are the oldest of packs in this Kingdom. We were the first to cross the mountains and escape the cruelty and superstition of the Second Kingdom folk. We found a harsh land here, with equally harsh human folk, but they welcomed us. Perhaps they saw in us a strength and versatility that they so cherish amongst themselves. Our strongest males were offered their most promising females as mates, and several mixed clans have grown up as a result. Along with our bloodlines, our stories and beliefs we incorporated with theirs, and in reverse also. Nowadays, no one particularly worries overmuch about whether he or she is a descendant of the original humans or the wolf"

"That's not something you see in other lands"

"No indeed. We often laugh to ourselves over the fearful humans and the mistrusting wolf's of the other Kingdoms. They have missed a great opportunity to enrich both races"

"Strength and versatility are not the only measures of a successful people"

"In the southern lands, where the weather is mild and sustenance plentiful, yes, perhaps that is true. But in the Eigth Kingdom, only the strong survive" Yacobe replied, but he was smiling as he strode through the drifts. Looking at his capability, Virginia could see that what he said made sense, but it also worried her terribly. When the Ice Kingdom's mid-winter deadline had passed and these people were unleashed upon the other Kingdoms, there would be little to stop them. They had been defeated before, but only with the combined effort of the Kingdoms, and without the all important freezing spell that had been cast by their monarch. More than ever, Virginia hoped that the mission Scarlett and Wolf were on would yield results. Only with the killing snow gone from the lands would the Kingdoms have any chance against the push from the north.

"Tell me about the Ice Queen. Neva, the old one" she asked, glad that for once Yacobe seemed happy to talk. Any information was a bonus. He glanced back at her, surprise on his face for a moment.

"You know her name" he said, eyes narrowing in thought.

"I know a great deal actually" Virginia retorted. It was mostly a bluff, of course, and she hoped he would buy it. He shrugged minutely before moving on, his voice floating back to her.

"Neva, she has been Queen of this Kingdom since long before I was born. She is ancient now, but many things grow in strength with age, and she is no different. To be in her prescence, well it's like you are made as insignificant as a fly. Her guards and servants compete to do her bidding. It's considered a great honour to be a part of her household, and I relished the opportunity when it came to me"

"You were part of her household"

"Well of course. How else would I have come to Castle White?" Yacobe replied. Virginia felt foolish as he continued. "I excelled, and soon came to be amongst her most trusted inner circle. When she assigned to me the task of protecting and tutoring the new Princess, I saw it as the ultimate honour, for amongst our own people, there are none more trusted than those who guard the cubs"

"Yes, I know. My son has been cared for on many occasions by Elsie. I don't know what I would have done without her"

"She's a wise one. An old line is hers"

"So, do you serve Neva now still, or the young Princess?"

"Both, and neither"

"How can that be?"

"It's not something that I can easily explain to you. You're not a wolf, no matter who shares your bed". Virginia, stung by the bluntness of his observation, was almost tempted to blurt out her werewolf heritage, but she held her tongue at the last minute.

"You're right. I'm not a wolf. I'm not even a princess. I'm a nobody. I have no idea what you or your people want with me".

Ahead of her, Yacobe stopped, turning back to wait as the mule closed the distance between them. His pale blue eyes gleamed with sudden emotion, and it made Virginia gasp inwardly. He stepped up to place a hand gently on her arm and she let it rest there.

"You are not nobody, Virginia. You are the Beloved of Lucine, a treasure box within which is hidden a great gift. But you are right in one respect. It is not you yourself that we want" he murmered, his hand sliding down to lay tentatively on her stomach. Within her, the child kicked and squirmed, and Virginia threw off his touch with sudden fear.

"You would take my child from me?" she gasped in horror.

"No, of course not. You will be as welcome amongst us as your daughter. But the moon-shadow child we will keep within our people, yes"

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Rhoswen stared hard into the silver orb, sure she must be mistaken. The orb never lied, but there it was anyway. The vision was clouded, as it always was when someone of strong will and mind wanted to go unseen. He had eluded her sight for many days now, this one and now the snippet of conversation that she had worked so hard to hear had given his motives away. She leaned dangerously close to the shining liquid, cursing the bitter fumes that engulfed her. Another thing she would punish him for when he next stood in her prescence.

The other figure in the vision was shrouded in a great heavy cloak, but her profile when she turned her face to the side was unmistakeable. Virginia. The great unknown player in all the mechanisms they had wrought, Neva and herself. Once more, Rhoswen cursed the fact that the woman yet lived, but still, were she to have been killed then so would the babe have been. The image of the strange infant shimmered and pulsed, twisting and morphing until it looked like some ghastly imp inside it's mother. But Rhoswen had studied her history well, and knew all about the prophecies surrounding such a child as this.

She rose finally, rubbing her aching knees and went to begin the long climb to the tower rooms. No servant nor guard would ever come down here of their own volition and so she must suffer the long stairs without assistance. But today, Rhoswen did not mind the aloneness. It gave her space to think and plan. Trying to keep one step ahead of her ailing step-mother, it had become far more than a game nowadays.

At the top she paused to catch her breath, pain in her lungs reminding her of the ultimate price she played with just to see the where and now of things. She beckoned her captain of guard, speaking in low tones that his part wolfen ears understood perfectly.

"We have been betrayed. Yacobe seeks to keep the prize for his own gain. Listen close, and I will tell you where to find them". The guard listened avidly. "And one more thing. Make sure the prisoner is prepared well. You know the one of which I speak. He may prove beneficial to our cause at last".


	17. Chapter 17

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Seventeen

"Little Wendell, is that really you?"

"You know me well enough. And I'm no longer 'little', in case you hadn't noticed"

"You'll always be small in the world, King of the Whites". The arrogance of her tone made Wendell's guts twist in discomfort. Part of him wanted to believe her, even after all the years. His earlier harshness and bravado seemed to melt away in the dankness of the tomb. But then he looked around himself, seeing it as exactly that. A tomb, a burial place for dead things or things that ought to be and now played no part in the world. He made himself think about how much it must irk the old witch that he stood there, young and healthy. Not with power such as she once commanded, but still with more than she had now. Power to live, to effect things. The power of a King who was loved by his people, not feared.

"One pebble can trigger the avalanche" he said, quoting his old school master from childhood.

"Be the pebble then"

"I shall. I will hammer and knock and tap away at you until you submit to me. I will take my fist and smash these infernal mirrors should they not submit to me..."

"Hey Wendell! Do you think this is the one that Wolf and Will got trapped in? The one Virginia got them out of a few months ago?" Tony shouted from across the chamber, interupting his speech.

"Maybe. I don't know for sure. But don't touch anything yet"

"No, no, of course not. I'm not stupid. So has the old witch told you which one to try yet?" Tony replied. Wendell raised his shoulders in a minute shrug.

"How's beautiful Virginia, Wendell?" the hag wheezed as if she'd ignored their whole conversation.

"I thought _you _might know" Wendell said, bending over so she could see his face. Her own was a ghastly sight. Virginia had described it before, but had omitted the smell, the horrible sense of wickedness that emanated from the thing. The eyes glistened in the half light.

"Me? Oh no, what would I know of things? Poor old Hera, locked away in the swamp to rot with her burned feet and tattered plans"

"You'll get no pity from me, Hera"

"What then, will I get from you for the secret of my Mirrors?" Hera replied, rising to the bait. "What have you ever had to offer me? I have already garnered the most useful of payments from your precious sister, though she knows little of what she will eventually give up to me. What more could I need, then?".

Wendell paused, thinking furiously. What was she talking about? A payment from Virginia? When and why would Virginia have made such a bargain? One possible answer made him uncomfortable. Had it been Hera's doing that had led Virginia to Coven Lake? Wendell had never asked Virginia how and why she had gone there. Perhaps the witch was bluffing, but Wendell's mind was assailed with doubts, right when it didn't need it to be. It didn't change one salient fact though, Hera wanted nothing from him, and therefore had no real reason to help him now. Unless...

"Virginia is gone. Taken from us by force. The Ice Queen has her" he spoke bluntly.

"Pity" Hera grunted, but Wendell, watching closely, saw the witches face react in surprise and something else. Something that looked vaguely like fear.

"You don't want to meet this Ice Queen, do you?" he asked, pressing his advantage. He looked down at the ice crusting the bog pools. "You're already using what little power is left to you to ward off her spells, aren't you? And it's not working too well". The corspe closed it's eyes. "You chose Virginia's 'side', didn't you? You saw all this coming, you picked her, sent her in the right direction, because you would have the luxury of choosing your enemies" Wendell continued, bitterness creeping into his voice. By the Kingdoms, was evil never satisfied? Didn't it ever give up? "You should help me now lest you lose both your 'champion' and whatever she promised to you".

Wendell withdrew as he spoke, affecting an air of nonchalance that he didn't really feel. Peering into a slime encrusted mirror that that tilted on it's side in the muck, he could make out his reflection. His own face looked cold and hard back at him, the glass giving it a greenish hue. Damn that he had never gleaned any power from his famous ancestors! He wouldn't be here nearly begging from this horrid crone who wanted only the destruction of his family.

He felt Hera's choice like a quiet click of triumph in his mind.

Wisps of steam lifted from the mirror's surface as he stared into it. Wendell almost decided to leap back in fear, but he held his ground as the glass cleared. An image formed on the silver surface. Virginia, standing still as stone in the snow. In profile she looked grim and sad at the same time, looking off into the snowy landscape to another figure, a tall white haired male who was tending the reins of a fat donkey. Wendell cast his eyes desperately over the scene, trying to spot some landmark or clue to show where she was, if indeed it was a true image and not a false one. But all he saw was featureless snow covered forest. Normally this would have tipped him off that it was somewhere in the permanently frozen north, but nowadays all the world was so covered. But as the man in the scene turned back to speak to Virginia, he recognized the face. Yacobe, the Ice Queen's envoy. He felt sick as the stranger gathered Virginia up and carefully placed her on the back of the donkey. At least she seemed unharmed, he tried to counsel himself. The scene started to fade, and he cried out a garbled half protest, drawing the instant attention of Tony.

The older man bounded over. "What, what? Did you see something? Did you see Virginia?"

Wendell sighed as the mirror glass went dark again. "Yes, I saw her. She's alive Tony. She seemed unhurt, but she's a prisoner of that wolf Yacobe. It's just as we feared. The Ice Kingdom has claimed her".

"Why, damn it, why?" Tony bellowed, striding over to the corspe like Hera. He swore a number of times, words that Wendell had learned were rather shocking in the Tenth Kingdom but had little meaning in his own. The witch seemed to shrink a little under his anger, but Wendell paid them little mind, for the mirror had once more cleared, and the vision it showed him now was spellbinding.

"Hush Tony!" he spoke. "Come and look at this" he said quietly. The view showed him a sparse chamber. A woman paced to and fro. Long gold hair fell about her shoulders. For a second Wendell's heart thundered in his chest. Scarlett? But no, the woman had turned to face him now, her mouth a bitter smile as she sought the intrusion. With a sinking feeling, Wendell knew that this woman knew he was watching her. She had magic, this one. But her resemblence to his far away love was unsettling, and he couldn't take his eyes off her.

She came close to the glass. Probably she looked even now into a common mirror on her side, which Wendell knew was the most often used way of spying that magic mirrors used.

"Who is this?" she spoke suddenly, and her voice carried across the glass effortlessly. She was so compelling in her question that Wendell almost blurted out an answer. Belatedly he knew that this was the voice of a ruler, used to command. Tony's hand gripped his shoulder hard, reminding him of the here and now. It was a welcome anchor. The woman came closer, her pale face filling the whole view. "This is old magic" she murmured to herself, putting her hands up to the glass. The mirror on Wendell's side quivered as she did so. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. "King Wendell!" Well, I never expected to see your like here!" she exclaimed with a short laugh. "Have you become so desperate that you must turn to the ancient source that ruined your family?"

Wendell drew breath to answer her, but Tony clamped his hand even tighter. "No" he breathed. On the other side, the pale woman continued to survey the mirror. Wendell wondered how much she could see. Did she see him, tired and dispirited, kneeling in the muck far from his home?

Oddly now, the vision tilted and moved, as though the strange woman had lifted her own mirror and was carrying it. "They say you were a dog once, King Wendell White" she said evenly, "Perhaps when we finally meet in person I may be inclined to make you into a pet again. What do you think of that, young King?" she continued. Wendell could no longer see her face. The vision swam crazily, making him dizzy. Too late he realised that he was falling, thrown from the high window like any piece of refuse might be. It was just like falling in a dream. The white earth sped up to meet him, and he put his hands out automatically, dimly aware that Tony had done the same thing.

In that final second before the image struck the earth, Scarlett's face suddenly appeared. Her hair was whipped by the wind and her mouth was open in a silent scream as she plummeted from the sky.

"Nooo" he shouted finally as the mirror on his side shattered into thousands of shards, spraying his face with glass. The frame that had held the mirror shrieked in anger, buckling in on itself. A coldness like nothing he had felt before invaded the crypt, freezing his boots to the floor as he stood. He kicked out desperately, freeing himself from the clinging ice. Tony was up and heading for the door already. Wendell followed unsteadily, sparing a glance at the corpse as ice covered it. At the base of the stairs he turned to see the witches coffin crushed under the weight of the ice, becoming a ghastly parody of Snow-white's own tomb, far away in Dragon Mountain.

Tony was coming back now, to pull him from his stupor and back up the stairs. If Hera was capable of saying anything as he left the tomb, he didn't hear it. He knew she had opened the mirror to him. She had drawn the attentions of the Ice Queen down upon herself. It was a measure of his kind human heart that he felt guilt now. But the anger and strength that he felt flowing up and out of him as he staggered away into the swamp was a measure of an entirely different kind.

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Scarlett drew her cloak tighter around herself. She wasn't really that cold, which was another mystery to be left for another time, but it was a typically human gesture. One from a woman out of her depth. Lost and alone in the wilderness. She laughed at her own imagery. Well, not quite lost, and definately not alone. As for depth, well, she had always been a good swimmer, had she not?

A fire would have been nice, but she knew why Wolf had not allowed it. Two days out from Hooded City, he was still in that frame of mind where assassins and hunters leapt out of every shadow. Scarlett knew she could have assayed his fears by telling him that pursuit of any kind was unlikely. Her brother would not have left his house in an uproar of confusion just to go hunting his wayward sister, and he would have likely needed all his most faithful retainers just to rein in those guards who still held loyalty for her. Bitterly, she found herself hoping that most of them had either escaped (and might even now be making their way south with news of the coup), or perhaps they may have been more circumspect in their actions. Swearing fealty to the usurper would at least keep them out of the dungeons and away from the noose.

But, friend or foe, they had had no signs of anyone following them. And Scarlett had determined that she would learn all the faster if Wolf were still alert and wolf like in his actions. Scarlett had already learned much just from watching him; the way he tracked, scented, found his way, covered their trail. Hunted.

He was approaching her even now. She had discovered the ability to quiet her mind and body, to really listen to the world around her. Secret rythmns of the wildlife sprang into awareness as she crouched under the lee of an old oak, waiting.

"Scarlett" he spoke in her ear, and she jumped in spite of herself. But she wasn't angry at his sneaking. It was a timely reminder that she was still in so many ways as inept as a new cub. Wolf had caught a skinny hare, she saw. He waggled it under her nose. "Ladies first" he said, dumping it in her lap. Scarlett stared into the sunken dead eyes of the hare.

"Your knife?" she asked. Wolf hestitated a moment. "I don't have your teeth, Wolf. I need the knife to cut with" she continued.

"True enough" he said slowly, handing his belt knife to her carefully. "But one day, you might, you know"

"What? One day I'll suddenly grow fangs like yours?" Scarlett laughed, deftly skinning the hare and cutting herself a portion. The meat steamed in the cold air, still warm. "Are you sure we can't have a fire?" she asked, gesturing to the dripping carcass.

"Why? Don't you like it?" he replied.

"Well, a little cooking wouldn't hurt it. It's what I'm used to, believe it or not"

"What, you never stole bones from the kitchen to gnaw under the bed when you were a child?" he said, eyes crinkling in amusement.

"No! And despite what you think, I'm still a human being, still a q...". She faltered before she could say it. Still a queen? No, not any more.

"Still a queen" Wolf finished for her solemnly. Scarlett was angry at him for a second, but she bit savagely into her raw hare's leg instead. The flesh was tough, the blood coppery on her tongue. It was not unpleasant. She tossed the rest of the carcass Wolf's way and he caught it. His long canines bared to make short work of disemembering the remainder of the body. Wolf-like, he went first for the entrails. Heart, liver, intestines. The squelching sound of offal being relished made her stomach contort. It was a strangely pleasing sensation, reminding her of her humanity. Bloodstained and squatting in the snow miles from anything, she still craved the knowledge that she was not not some gruesome predator, a monster equally as terrifying as the ones she had been schooled from birth to hate and fear.

"You think I'm making a mistake" she said when he'd finished burying the remains in the snow.

"It's not the decision I would have made. I've already told you that"

"But you're still here. You could have left at any time, gone back to your Virginia. You still can, you know. I'm no longer the woman I once was, to command anyone's loyalty. But I have a task to do. Possibly a futile one, yes, but I must see it through. It's...all I have of my old life...I must..." she trailed off. She barely felt Wolf's arms enfold her as the tears, held back for so many hours broke the dam at last. He held her close until she had cried herself out, her tears dampening his shoulder.

"Virginia is safe in Castle White" he said softly. "And Virginia gave me a job to do as well. Look after you, she said. Wherever you go, so will I until our task is done". He looked off into the distance, towards the line of mountains that barred their way. Then he laughed, kissing her brow in a way that few had done before, but Scarlett did not feel threatned by his closeness. They were both of them in love, just with other people. "A fine woman my Virginia is" he murmured, "to command us both so effortlessly that we would not even think to abandon our quest".

"She is the true queen then" Scarlett replied, "not I".


	18. Chapter 18

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Eighteen

"How much further Yacobe?" Virginia asked, yawning and rubbing her sore back. She had lost count of the number of actual days she'd been on this enforced jaunt through the countryside. As she watched the tall half-wolf finishing the construction of their snow cave shelter, she fully expected to have him grunt aside her question as he had done all others. A thin branch poked up through the snow near where she was standing. It looked spindly, but if she was lucky enough it might deal him a sufficient blow that she might escape. But then she looked out into the barren wilderness. She wouldn't last a day out here alone. It irked her, but it was true. The alternative, however, was as equally bleak. She could go with the ghost wolf to wherever he wanted to take her, but then what? Just let them steal her baby? Virginia didn't quite believe his assurances that they would not seperate her from her new daughter. And what of Wolf and Caelum? Would they too be dragged here all on account of some superstitious nonsense that the wolfs of this region had decided to believe?

What was it exactly that they thought she was bearing? Her daughter twisted and kicked within her as if to say she too was ignorant. There was one small hope though, Virginia knew. If, when the time came she delivered what appeared to be a normal quarter-wolf cub, with no magical or unusual skills, then perhaps they would let them go.

_Moonshadow child_. The name seemed to whisper on the cold wind. The cub grew still as if listening. Virginia shivered inwardly, pushing forward into the shelter, feeling like she needed to escape the attentions of the world.

Later, when the small fire had warmed the cave and her fingers were beginning to thaw, Yacobe answered her first question.

"Perhaps another three days. We are having to go around about a ways to avoid the Ice Palace, and my people will certainly have moved since I last saw them"

"Your clan move around so much, even in winter?"

"Not usually. But this year things are different. Several of our young males have made their way to the city to join with the army, no doubt, and the rest...well, if they haven't heard of it yet, will soon learn of my betrayal. We have a number of secret places where we can hide in safety"

"There's no such thing as 'hide in safety', Yacobe. Hiding is hiding. I thought you said I would be safe with your people. If the Ice Queen is going to be hunting us..."

"She's been hunting you since the beginning of the year, Virginia. It was she and her 'daughter' who set out to turn the spell. They saw that the monster-wolf's curse could so easily be thwarted to cause you mortal harm". His voice was toneless, but Virginia still felt a pang of dismay at how much she had been manouevred.

"Why me?" she asked bleakly.

"You were the most obvious target Neva could think of. You were, and still are, on the cusp of gaining great power and the ability to lead. You aren't from the Kingdoms, where folk have grown easy and soft and indecisive. Neva feared you, and rightly so, I think. So when an opportunity to strike first came about..."

"She's got it all wrong. I don't have any magical powers. I wouldn't use them even if I did. Aren't you forgetting who my mother was, and what harm she caused? She was evil. It's hard to say that of your own mother, but she was. I couldn't be trusted with any power and the people would be fools to give it to me. Besides, whatever 'power' I gained when the werewolf touched me, I gave away. I gave it all away, because I saw what manner of creature I would become"

"Yes. Your decision to give up the strength has kept Neva and Rhoswen awake many a night since. They could not fathom why you would do so, even though they realised how close they had come to engineering their own demise. They did not expect you to survive the attack, much less walk away with a lethal power hidden in your veins"

"But if they know I gave it up, why still pursue me? What threat am I to Neva now?" Virginia asked, happy that for once the silent Yacobe was prepared to talk freely with her, despite the topics. The ghost wolf pursed his lips together, as if debating with himself.

"It's not Neva, but Rhoswen, Virginia. I doubt even if the Ice Queen is aware of what her 'daughter' has planned"

"Are they at war with each other?"

"No, not at all. But Rhoswen, the Princess, she is much more than Neva suspects, I think. Neva is old, but she still commands the loyalty of the people. Rhoswen is young, strong, and she has learned well the secrets of this land. She has studied the histories and stories, listened to the legends and prophecies. She has put the pieces together. I suppose I am to blame in a way, since Neva gave to me the task of educating the little girl. It was I who taught to her the old ways, and this she has combined with her damnable source of sight..." he growled deep in his throat, a particular tone that Virginia realised as disgust, "and now she has seen you as I have seen you. She knows about the cub you carry. She knows that the people have long waited for such a one as this".

Virginia's mouth felt as dry as ashes. "What, what has she seen?" she managed to stammer. Yacobe stared at her curiously, before he sighed as if admitting that his prisoner might well be as ignorant as she claimed.

"Lucine's Mark, Virginia" he said gently, as if prompting her to remember. Virginia shook her head in confusion.

"What mark, where?" she demanded. In answer, he reached forward to touch her lightly between the brows. The spot tingled as he withdrew his hand. Virginia had a vague memory of the Goddess of the Moon kissing her in the cavern of Coventina after they had cured her of the werewolf touch. _We were unable to remove the taint from the child_. Ah, Lucine, what have you done? She wanted to scream it, but it echoed in her mind. Dimly, she was aware of Yacobe speaking to her.

"Surely you have seen it? In the magic mirrors where truth is revealed, can you not see it?" he said.

"No. I don't like mirrors, especially magic ones. I've haven't looked into one for months now, save the Travelling Mirror". Inwardly, Virginia cursed herself. How many times have I stood in that room staring only at the velvet? Perhaps if I had looked, maybe I would have been able to see this coming. But I thought that Coventina had shown me all that I needed to know. "What would I have seen, Yacobe?" she continued with a sinking feeling of dread.

"Lucine has marked you, Virginia. As clear as day it is to me. I cannot believe your mate has not said anything about it. But regardless, it is there, and for a mortal human woman from outside the world of our Kingdoms to receive such a mark, well, perhaps one day soon you will understand why you, and your daughter are so much desired by so many"

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"Raise the army! Bring them together" Wendell almost shouted. His steaming horse stood straddle legged in the courtyard. All about, guards scurried and pages ran messages, and he realised belatedly that they had been out all night searching for him. His castellan Rupert looked such a mixture of emotions; fear, that his most important charge had been missing, and indignation that same charge had insolently reappeared the next morning without a scratch, that Wendell feared the man would faint. Or start yelling at him. Wendell was the King, but Rupert had known him longer than that, and Wendell rightly feared the man's displeasure. Briefly he wondered what it was like to be a servant of himself. What did they think of him, really? Did they laugh behind their hands at the foppish, soft skinned and unworldly young man? Did they compare him to his exulted parents and the immortal Snow-white, and find him lacking?

These were not new questions. He had been plagued with them from childhood, but today, as he stood muddied and exhausted on the steps of his own castle, Wendell found that he was no longer troubled by them. He stared up at the turrets weighed down with icicles, the banners long since torn down for blankets, the windows boarded up as the ice shattered them one by one. Behind him, he was vaguely aware of Tony talking to Rupert, giving some explanation or other of where they had been all night. Chasing down old enemies and using their old magics, Wendell thought to himself. The image of Scarlett once more flashed before him. It hadn't happened, he knew it instinctively. And it would never happen, she would never plummet from the sky if he had anything to do with it.

But where? Where in the world would he start now? The dull logistics didn't quite dampen his new found courage and daring. Someone was tapping his shoulder. Only Rupert would be so bold, he knew. His friends face was pinched, and whatever thoughts floated through his mind he kept well hidden now, as a well trained courtier would.

"The army is scattered, Wendell" he said softly. "You know this. We've been sending them out to keep the peace in the villages, to make sure what food is left is shared equitably. They're keeping our people alive, my King"

"No. What's keeping our people alive is the fact that that damnable woman up there", he gesticulated towards the north, "hasn't even begun to throw her weight against us. Whatever evil spell she has concocted has yet to be fulfilled. Mid-winter, that's what she told us, mid-winter. A single week away, my friend, and no amount of sword and spear will hold back that tide of death". Wendell's voice rose as he spoke. Passing servants heard his words, slowed their steps.

"Why then call up the army?"

"I am going there. To the Eigth Kingdom" Wendell thundered, knowing his destination now at the moment he spoke it. To Ruperts shocked face, he now spoke more softly, wanting to let his oldest friend know that his sovereign hadn't gone truly mad. "It's the only chance we have. If we can't undo or turn this winter-spell, then lets try and undo she who cast it"

"You want to march into the Eight Kingdom and kill the Ice Queen"

"Yes"

"What if it backfires? The spell I mean. What if even with her death it cannot be undone?"

"Then at least she will not have the pleasure of riding over our frozen bones"

"But...we could surrender. We could give in to her demands for now. Live to fight another day, maybe" Rupert stammered, the words awkward on his tongue. Wendell smiled in acknowledgement.

"No, Rupert. You can barely say the words, let alone I complete them. Giving in to evil is never the right ending to any story in this land. The Ice Queen knows this as well. She knows we will fight for our happiness, but she expects to have to ride out to take it from us". Wendell watched his castellan's face, unaware of holding his breath as he waited for the outburst, the denials, the refusal. But Rupert's eyes crinkled in thought, and something else that Wendell had never seen. A certain respect, the look of someone who has spent their whole lives in service to someone who has unexpectedly shown a sudden promise at the most unexpected time. Their smiles met and matched amid the snow and destruction.

"So, we march to the death of the Ice Queen" Rupert intoned, already scratching his head in that way that Wendell recognized as his trying to figure out the whats and wheres of a situation. Wendell left him to do it, knowing the man was a master of organisation. Ahead of him, as he climbed the stairs to his front door, whispers floated. Grimy, worn down faces of his folk met him, crowded even now as they were in the entrance hall. The warmed air that came from the strange devices that Tony had procured was comforting, but Wendell knew now, just as his people did, that one day soon that odd magic would not be enough.

"Are you going to help us?" murmured one old crone, her feet wrapped in what looked like one of his old robes of state.

"Yes. Or at the very least, I'm going to give it a damn good try!" Wendell smiled grimly at her as he made his way through them towards his rooms. Behind him he heard more whispers, and under it a subdued current of good humour, the first in many weeks to grace the big Castle White.

And then, when all that was done with, he thought to himself, well, then he would be able to catch his love, his Scarlett, from wherever she fell. She would understand.

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It was a dull sound. Far away, but not so far, not really. A scratching sound. But it was more a question of time rather than space now, she knew. The sting pierced her breast, throbbing, pushing, insistant. The thing so enspelled to keep going, always flying or floating or whatever, until it reached the heart of a living creature. Any heart would do.

Such a pity that she had only just remembered that she _was_ a living creature.


	19. Chapter 19

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Nineteen

Wolf couldn't help the uncomfortable feeling of having deja vu all over again. It was illogical, of course, because he had indeed been here before. Climbed this mountain, scrambled over this very boulder in fact...

A quiet scraping and a mumbled curse that was quite unfit for royalty floated up on the cold air. Scarlett came into view beneath him. For a moment she wavered uncertainly, faced with a particularly deep drift, but then she set her teeth grimly, forging her way through towards him. Wolf couldn't help but smile at her efforts. Their days of rough living and hard travel had brought out the best in his old enemy, he knew. Of all the strange and weird things that had happened to him in the past few years, it was this discovery, his obvious delight in empowering the Red Queen that was probably the oddest. Who'd have thought it? He had to smile again at his own answer. Virginia. She had known it. His heart seemed to melt at the thought of his love, so far away in the Castle White, probably getting fat and cross and fidgety and wondering what was taking him so long to come home.

He reached down to give Scarlett his hand over the last part of the drift. She took it without comment or hesitation. Her cheeks were pink with exertion and her long gold hair tumbled down around her shoulders, coated with crusted snow and ice. Wolf watched as she gained her feet next to him. If the long climb up to Coven Lake was proving too hard for her she had never said so, and she likely would not, he realised. She was still a stubborn girl, headstrong and unwilling to admit defeat. Wolf found himself wondering whether those traits could be attributed to her wolf ancestry or her human one, but ultimately he realised that it didn't matter. Wolf blood, human blood, she was what she was.

But that didn't stop his own wolfish mind from assessing her as a strong, competent she-wolf, and a desirable asset for any pack. She would breed strong cubs for Wendell, he mused silently.

She was taking stock of their surroundings in the way he had taught her. Wind direction, arc of the sun, tracks, scents, number of steps taken since breaking camp this morning. She had learned it all quickly, and had remarked on more than one occasion that it more like 'remembering' than actually learning a new thing. She was surprised at herself, he knew.

A sudden new scent, at once alarming and welcoming, wafted in their direction, and Wolf waited to see if she would pick it up. For a long moment it seemed that she wouldn't, staring off in the other direction, but suddenly she pivoted, turning her head sharply to the east. Her delicate nose flared and her brow creased in thought. Then she smiled hesitantly.

"Is it...another one? One of...us?" she murmured softly under her breath. Wolf waited patiently. Almost she had it. "No, wait, it's more than one!"

"How many and what sort?" Wolf asked her. She was trying so hard to sort the scents it was almost comical, but of all the various scents a half-wolf had to learn, this was probably the most important of all; other wolf's, be they kin, strangers, friendly or hostile.

"I..I don't think I can tell" she said after another minute, her face falling in self doubt.

"It's alright Scarlett. No one expects you to learn it all in a few days, least of all me. But if you want to know, they are three males, younger than I, two females, one with a nursing cub, and an adolescent male with a sore foot". Wolf couldn't help but feel pleased that Scarlett was so obviously impressed by his skills.

"I'll never be any good at this" she muttered though. "Are they going to approach us then?"

"Yes. That is why they have allowed their scent to reach us. It's like a courtesy, you know?"

"Oh. Will they attack us, do you think?"

"I doubt it"

"I thought wolves attacked and killed others who came into their territory"

"It happens, especially between the full blooded packs in times of hardship, but we're not savages who kill just for the sport of it Scarlett" Wolf said in a gentle reproach. A part of her mind heard him and bowed it's head ever so slightly in submission, but the rest of her stood boldly in the knee high snow, meeting his gaze unflinchingly. Wolf smiled and cupped her chin lightly in one hand. "These folk will likely be travellers as we are. We have passed no wolf boundaries today" he reassured her.

"But when they find out who I am..."

"Yes, that might be interesting"

"_Interesting!..."_

"Hush, they come now" Wolf said and she cut off whatever scathing remark she'd been about to say. Within moments, the pack of half-wolf's came into view over the hill. Wolf saw at once that they were indeed travellers with no pack-lands of their own. All their possessions were piled high on their backs, and they all had a tough, lean look of wolf's on the road. It was not uncommon for families and packs to roam over quite a distance in their search for their own turf, and in fact many spent years that way by choice. In gender and type they were just as he had described them to Scarlett, and the youngster even limped.

Long before they were in proper greeting distance, the two sides were assessing each other. Do you come in the light of the moon? Wolf asked them silently, letting his body language adopt an unthreatening posture. Next to him, he could feel Scarlett's budding curiousity and her latent fear. She shifted uncomfortably and stared too openly at them. He hoped the other pack would not interpret her reaction as aggression. The lead male's eyes thinned in suspicion as he looked at Scarlett. Wolf, sensing a sudden danger, turned and grabbed Scarlett by the scruff of her robe at the back of her neck, forcing her head downwards gently. Surprised, she fought him momentarily, spitting angry words under her breath. Wolf knew she would be ropeable later, but glancing at the other pack, he knew he'd been right to enforce it on her. With his clearly defined domination over her, he affirmed to the strangers that his companion would not act of her own accord, no matter her fear.

One by one they relaxed and the leader smiled hesitantly.

"Young" he said, in a way that Wolf knew he wasn't just referring to her age. Wolf smiled back, knowing the truth of it. She had been slightly cubbish in her actions, but no one would blame her for that, not when they learned about her. He released Scarlett and she stayed where she was, head down in submission. Wolf wondered if she'd figured it out so quickly. The others came forward now, and he learnt their pack names and gave his own. They did not seem to recognise his name as being the 'wolf hero' of the Fourth Kingdom, but as they came to Scarlett now, he realised with a pang that he had no wolfish name for her, and she had none to give them.

It was a tense moment as the new pack waited for Scarlett to greet them. Wolf was on the verge of taking a risk and inventing a name for her when she suddenly took a deep breath and stepped forward. Her white hand tugged away the fabric at her throat, baring it in the way she had obviously just watched the others do.

"I am Scarlett, Red Queen of the Second Kingdom" she said. Her tone did not waver even for a second, and Wolf felt both proud and fearful for her. The leader of the pack came forward to stand so close and she didn't flinch as he reached for her throat. Wolf held his breath, poised to move the instant it turned ugly. But the alpha sniffed closely at Scarlett's skin before he unexpectedly reached to enclose her in a strong hug.

"Welcome back to your family, Scarlett Riding Hood. We have been waiting many, many moons for you" he said.

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Virginia shifted uncomfortably on the cool snow floor of the small cave, wondering what had awakened her. It was still night outside and she could see the faint glimmer of starlight coming in through the narrow opening. Across from her, Yacobe lay curled up nose to tail, seemingly asleep, although she knew better than to assume he was. He'd typically wake at the slightest movement from her. Her back ached terribly and she was momentarily overwhelmed with the memory of her feather bed in her little cottage, a warm and bare Wolf stretched out beside her, soft rain beating against the windows, the creak of the larder door being prised open by a hungry wolf cub. Virginia smiled in spite of her worries, manouvering herself into a sitting position to try and ease the discomfort. This wasn't an easy task nowadays, given that she was very nearly the size she had been when Caelum had been born. Her stomach felt hard and round, with a certain pressure against the floor of the uterus that let her know that the cub had settled head down already.

Wait, little daughter, just wait she pleaded silently. Not here, not now, not amongst strangers who will take you for their own...

The barest of sounds reached her ears. A soft crunch outside. Virginia was almost tempted to reach over and shake Yacobe awake, but she hestitated. Maybe it was rescue? Unlikely as it seemed, her heart lifted in sudden hope that perhaps someone, anyone, even Wendell himself maybe, had tracked her and found her finally. Two points of light appeared in the darkness of the cave, and she realised that she was staring directly into Yacobe's eyes. In the gloom, he raised his finger to his lips. Reminded suddenly of where she was and who would be her mostly likely 'rescuer', Virginia obeyed him, and stayed silent as he uncurled himself and put his nose to the crack.

More sounds, suspiciously just like booted feet tramping through snow, penetrated the air. Virginia fought to keep her breathing even and shallow, but fear gnawed at her now as Yacobe's hackles rose and his low range growl rumbled in his throat.

"Yacobe!" the man's voice cut through the night. "Yacobe come forth. You are discovered. Come forth and submit".

Virginia swallowed hard as he turned to face her. Despise and fear him as she had done until now, she now found herself in the uneviable position of being caught between two enemies, tussled over like two dogs on a bone. Unless...unless Yacobe was the type to destroy out of hand what everyone sought if he could not have it for himself. She pressed herself against the farthest wall. His smile was brittle, and with a fatalistic egde to it that she had seen often in wolfish expressions.

"I would never harm you, Virginia. I have given my life to Lucine should I do otherwise" he said, now tilting his head slightly to indicate the outside, "but we are discovered now, and outnumbered, and surrounded. If you wish it, I will fight for you now, but they will kill me eventually. What do you want to do, Virginia?"

Dumbfounded, Virginia could only stare back at him silently. What a choice? Why even ask, like she was the one in charge, the one who could send men, or wolf's to their deaths with only a nod?

"Are...are they from her?"

"Yes. Men I trained with, shared meat with. I do not think they will do you harm, Virginia. Rhoswen wants you unhurt, or more specifically she wants the babe unharmed".

"And you? What will she do to you?"

"My life is forfeit. It has been since I first saw you, and since I last left the Ice Palace with my Lady's orders. Rhoswen is my alpha leader, and I have disobeyed her will. It is her right to punish me for that, Virginia. My only regret is that I have failed your daughter. I tried to protect her, but I was up against a formidable woman who uses filthy magic as though it were as innocent as the sky. I don't doubt she has espied us from afar, and guided her men here"

Virginia found herself agreeing with his words, but at the same time she seethed with anger at the stupidity of the situation. They should have gone south, far away, anywhere but so close to the one who hunted them. But it was too late now. Like it or not, she was about to be captured all over again, and as dangerous and hostile as Yacobe had seemed to her, she feared he would be nothing compared to who awaited her now. She thought on Rhoswen, the Queen in waiting of this barren land. It had been Rhoswen who Virginia had seen in the mirror of Coventina, not the aged Neva, a face strange to her then but now oddly familiar.

There was a comforting pressure against her leg, and she reached absently to finger the smooth edges of the dragon-scale, the same that she had carried with her all the way from Castle White. The scale thrummmed slightly, at once calming and easing her worries.

One chance, two chances, to try and turn the tide of frozen death.

"Do not fight them. I will not be the one to order your death, Yacobe, no matter the wrong you have done me and mine"


	20. Chapter 20

_The Ice Storm_

Chapter Twenty

Two days out from Castle White brought the first doubt to Wendell's mind. Just a small one, a nagging worry whenever he looked back over his shoulder, down the straggling line of men who followed him. They were exhausted, though they might never admit it to him personally. They were all astride the well bred horses that Wendell's stable was famous for, but the noble steeds hung their heads with seeming shame now, hides heaving and ribs showing through sparse coats. There was precious little feed for either man or beast, and no time to be lost in scavenging for it.

Wendell scanned the gray sky. They had passed the border this morning, crossing officially into enemy territory. Like all inhabitants of the Nine Kingdoms, Wendell felt out of place simply for that reason alone, not just because they were marching to make war on a formidable foe. He knew he was not as well travelled as some of the other rulers, preferring always to stay in his safe and (usually) orderly Kingdom. It had always provided him and his people with everything they needed. But it was a dying thing now. They had passed through several empty villages on their way north. No living souls greeted them. Houses were weighed down and crushed with ice, their owners dead, or fled to the Castle, or hiding someplace awaiting the end of the world.

Up the trail a little ways was Rupert, blowing his nose noisily into a gaily stitched hankerchief. Wendell nudged his stallion forward. Rupert looked pale and worn beneath his hood, and it was another blow to Wendell to see his old friend looking so...old. But his loyal advisor had stoutly refused to stay behind and tend the Castle as Wendell had wished him to do. Neither had Tony Lewis stayed. Wendell had cursed both men at the time for so blatantly refusing his orders on the matter. Was he the King here or not?

"Time to call a halt for the day, Rupert" he said as he drew closer.

"If it is still day, my Lord. Hard to tell under this infernal murk" Rupert replied, gesturing to the black sky.

"True enough, but my sore backside tells me it's been in the saddle since the daybreak!" Wendell laughed. He was oddly pleased that Rupert chortled in response to his jibe, not allowing himself to hear the forcedness of it.

The guards and soldiers dismounted quickly when the order came back to them. For tired men, they sure put on a burst of speed when 'tent' and 'rest' were mentioned, Wendell thought, though he could hardly blame them. They were only fifty in number, all he could spare from the various rescue and supply efforts going on throughout the Kingdom. A mere trifle in the face of the Ice Queen's rumoured army of thousands, but they were good men, well trained and armed. Wendell just hoped they could break through the lines of defence and breach the Ice Palace itself. Only one arrow, one thrown knife would do it. Wendell found himself hoping in a strange way that was totally new to him, that it would be _his_ arrow that pierced the evil Queen and saved his people, even if he paid for it with his life.

Later he sat with Rupert and Tony around a tiny shielded campfire. Tony was fussing with his baggage, including a strange looking box with heavy locks on it. It looked like a Tenth Kingdom object, but his Hero of the Realm had declined to comment on it when he'd asked him what was inside it.

"Never mind me Wendell. It's not a good thing I carry, but it will do you no harm, I promise" he had muttered. A vague answer, but Wendell had let it pass. They had travelled on many adventures together, he and Tony Lewis, and was entirely happy to take his word on any subject, except on playing cards.

Wendell was staring into the coals waiting for his soup to heat through when he heard one of his guards cry an alarm signal. He leapt to his feet along with most of his men, peering back down the lines to where the call had come from. It was the scout posted at the rear of the troop who now added to his warning.

"Wait". Wendell watched as his men held their swords in readiness. Further away, voices murmured in the darkness. His guards were talking, he realised with relief. There were no battle cries or shouts. One by one his men sheathed their weapons, but Wendell found himself unable to relax his grip on his own sword. Too tense for too long. Part of him ached for the release of battle, he knew. Men were coming forward now, a smaller unarmed figure in their midst. As they drew close, Wendell knew with a thrill that he recognized the figure.

"Giles-wolf?" he asked, part greeting, part query.

"King Wendell" the wolf replied, bending forward at the waist a fraction. Wendell could tell he was pleased that his name had been remembered, and hoped desperately that he wouldn't be expected to recite the half-wolf's lupine name, even if he could pronounce it. But evidently he was going to be spared that embarrasment as the half-wolf turned to whistle softly into the trees before facing Wendell once more. "It has been many cold months since we last met at the cub's blooding. Wolf's family is bonded to mine, and we heard that Virginia cub-mother had been taken against her will into the north..."

"She was taken right from under my own roof" Wendell sighed. "We have hunted far and wide, but we have guessed that one of your northern kindred must have done the thing at the bidding of the Ice Queen. Three days ago I saw in a Mirror a vision of Virginia and knew her captor to be the envoy Yacobe. I also saw that they had not yet reached the Ice Palace, though that may have changed now"

"And Wolf himself? Where is he?" pressed Giles.

"He has been gone from my Castle for weeks now, escorting my wife-to-be back to her home. I know that they reached there safely, for we had a messenger bird. I can only assume he is on his way back even as we speak. I'm hoping he will be able to pick up our trail" Wendell continued. In the corner of his eye he saw Tony open his mouth in seeming surprise, then shut it again swiftly. Distracted, Wendell shot him a glance, wondering. Was something else going on that he was unaware of? But before he could question his friend the half-wolf was speaking again, urging his attention back to the present.

"Good. I have with me many of my folk, King Wendell. Rare it is that so many of us would come together in such a fashion, but we have managed it. For a human, Virginia is special to us, as she is to you. And like yours, our people are suffering under the bite of this winter. Outlast you we may, but in the end we will also perish if the spell is not lifted and this ice cast forth from our lands".

As he spoke, more movement within the trees revealed yet more wolf folk, both full and half breeds. Many of his soldiers eyed them with suspicion, so long had they been used to treating wolf-kind as enemies, treaty or no. But in this barren land far from home, stronger still was the bond of men and beast who would fight now together for a common cause. Wendell was never so proud of anyone in his life as he was with the first soldier who extended a hand in friendship to the hand of a half-wolf, and he suspected the wolf Giles felt the same way.

"And are you the leader, the alpha of this lupine army?" he asked.

Giles barked a short laugh. "Ah no. If it's one thing we are determined to avoid, it's the tricky issue of leadership. Thus we have agreed that it would be the best thing for all of us if we were to put our alpha ranking on you, King Wendell, unblooded as you are. If you will have us, that is"

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Despite the travails of her journey Scarlett knew she was feeling more at ease than she could ever remember. And the strangeness of the situation played no role in her reactions at all, she knew. Was it a lupine thing, to so easily adapt to one's new circumstance? She had to suppose so, for she certainly could not imagine the stiff-backed protocol loving woman she'd once been taking to such change with so little emotional drama. Briefly she wondered about Wendell, and what he might think to see her now. It made her laugh low in her throat. She had never had any doubts that his love for her would continue. Maybe it was both a lupine and a thing of being in love that influenced her now.

"We amuse you, Scarlett-wolf?" spoke the elder of the half-wolf clan who had discovered them yesterday. Scarlett could tell from his posture that he was offering a jibe, and the hidden undertones of the wolf that whispered...tellme tellme tellme. It was a trick he played on her, she knew, one used on a lesser ranked wolf designed to get that one to reveal all their secrets. She smiled and laughed again.

"She is newly blooded and newly mated" Wolf spoke from across the fire.

"Ah". The half-wolfs nodded in apparent understanding, and Scarlett hid her flaming blush that crept across the cheeks. Well, she was not all that newly 'mated' in one sense with her Wendell, and she suspected that they knew that anyway. She tried to pinch her inner arm in an attempt to try and act less like a lovelorn fool and more like a queen that she once had been.

"So, Ruby's grandmother was a half-wolf herself" she repeated, picturing in her mind a portrait that had hung for years in the main hall, one she had stared at with such an air of admiration to be descended from such a one.

"Yes she was, young Scarlett" said the storyteller, a female half-wolf about her own age. The story of Little Ruby Riding Hood (from the lupine perspective) had been told many times over the past few hours and still Scarlett wanted to hear it again and again. Just as well that the wolfs seemed to have no recitence in relating it to her. They were delighting in her discoveries as much as she was, she realised. "She was one of us who preferred always to live amongst the human folk. We do not hold it against her, after all, are we not humans together as well? And in those times wolf folk were more tolerated, despite what your history tells you"

"So it was known that Grandmother was wolfen?"

"Oh yes, but then such things were not often topics of discussion, since no one particularly cared one way or the other. Folk were more accepting of each other as valuable individuals than they are today. And Grandmother had had a great love with a human man"

"And the came Ruby"

"Aye. That one was always a proud creature. Vain and arrogant. She was tail-less and without voice, and so knew not that she was herself born of the forest that she so feared. And yet even so, when she first looked on he who later became known as the Bad Wolf, part of her responded in kind. It was a new thing for her, but not unexpected given that she was a young woman"

"Who was he, this big Bad Wolf?"

"His human-use name was Banner, so called because he loved to let his tail fly in the wind. He was of middle years but still strong and healthy, and certainly what humans would call 'handsome'. Banner had visited Grandmother for many years, often staying within her bed although they were not mated. They loved each other and were happy. But young Ruby would understand none of that. She wanted Banner's attentions for herself although she would never say it aloud, nor would she even know why. Had she been raised among wolfs, maybe then she could have been eased through those difficult years that all wolfs know, but she was ignorant, and first love is first love, a dangerous time for wolf and human alike, yes?"

"Yes, I understand the danger of it"

"She found them together that day, in her Grandmother's cottage. And it was indeed a wolf in human guise, but that wolf was her Grandmother, not Banner himself. Ruby fled the cottage even though neither had tried to harm her, and in her anger she went to a Huntsman and begged him to end the monster she had seen in the cottage. The Huntsman who had in secret longed for the young woman Ruby, went of course to the cottage and in that sacred peaceful place a life was taken. But you know, that we think was not the worst to happen that day"

"What could have been worse?"

"We think, no, we are sure that Ruby intended for her Grandmother to perish that day, not Banner. Grandmother was the 'monster' in her eyes. But Grandmother survived, as of course the innocent Huntsman would not have thought to harm an old woman. And now Ruby could not admit to having had such thoughts, and so she pretended to be joyful at her 'rescuing' of poor old Grandmother, and she ignored the womans tears. Soon, word spread of Ruby's courage and she found that she enjoyed the attention, making it all the less likely that the truth would ever be known. Only two people knew what had happened that day, and Grandmother became frail and ailing and when she passed away there was none to gainsay her granddaughter. But Ruby was a Queen by then, having won the hand of a Prince, and her Kingdom was founded on a terrible secret, one that each and every descendant has tried to hide to this very day"

"I didn't try to hide it. I just didn't know...never even thought of such a possibility"

"We believe you Scarlett-wolf. And yet one day, when you had struggled to birth your first child, or maybe even your fourth or fifth, one day you would have seen in your own hands the bloodied tail of a cub...and then, then you would have known the truth. And you would have railed against your mother, your ancient grandmother Ruby, for making you live the lie they had told, and you would have flung that child, or spirited it away, or left it to die exposed on the frozen windowsill..."

_...so cold so cold so cold..._

"Enough" Wolf spoke sharply. Scarlett, feeling crumpled under the weight of the tale felt his arm across her back, holding her tight against himself. She had been weeping, she knew. She wondered for how long, and for whom.


	21. Chapter 21

The Ice Storm 

_Chapter Twenty-One_

Rhoswen paced the floor of her personal quarters. She was unsure if she was feeling trepidation or elation. Maybe it was both, but it would be wiser to allow the trepidation to rule her actions for a while yet she counselled herself. It was a dangerous thing she was attempting. Failure would mean instant death, or worse. Best not to focus too much on the prize as yet lest she lose sight of the greater machinations of her step-mother Neva. Plots within plots within plots. But this was what she had been trained for, raised to do. Ironically, Rhoswen hoped that Neva would be pleased with her efforts to secure her own future. Maybe she would expect no less from her wayward, headstrong foundling.

Reflexively she glanced sideways into her new wall mounted mirror as she passed it. It was not magical in itself, but that hadn't stopped someone skilled in mirror-lore from using it's predecessor to spy on her. Rhoswen had been surpised beyond measure to see the boyish face of King Wendell peering out at her one morning. He did look decidedly dishevelled and tired which gave her hope that perhaps his had been a last ditch effort in trying to thwart her. Although he'd done nothing but stare vacantly, even as she had tossed the offending glass right out the window to shatter on the flagstones below.

Rhoswen only hoped that the portal the mirror had opened had been enough for some of the freezing spell to penetrate wherever the King had been and freeze him then and there. There would be no way to tell for sure until mid-winter had passed and her soldiers could safely pass across the border and finish what the ice had started. Rhoswen pinched herself. _Her_ soldiers, not likely! They were Neva's people, these men and wolves and all manner of in between creatures. The Princess was an outsider and always would be. In retrospect, the perfect heir for one such as the Ice Queen. Young enough and capable enough, but not so accepted by the people that a coup would ever be successful. Rhoswen supposed that Neva was as suspicious as she was because the rumours were probably true that the current Ice Queen had cheeringly deposed her own parents in her own quest for power.

Hooves clattered from the courtyard below. Rhoswen breathed a sigh of relief that it was late in the night. In this time of war preparations, one more troop arriving in to the Castle would be likely overlooked, less so even than to stir people from their beds. Her guards were as silent as she expected them to be. No shouting or clashing of weapons, not hoots or catcalls to fellow soldiers. She could hear their progress through the maze of corridors beneath her, feel them as they mounted the stairs that led to her rooms. Beads of sweat trickled down her back as she waited. Had they been successful? Had their charge been 'damaged' in the capture?

She let out her breath in a rush as the door opened, unaware that she'd been holding it. Scents flooded the chamber, unmistakeable in what they told her. Rhoswen hoped her smile was suitably predatory as her guards summarily placed a small figure in the centre of the room, drawing back the dark hood that covered the face.

"Lady Virginia" she drawled, gazing on the young woman who stood blinking in the sudden light. Rhoswen took a moment to study her captive. She was a petite woman, much less tall than Rhoswen herself, with tiny wrists and slender limbs. Her face was pale, but Rhoswen knew it to be her natural pallor rather than fear or shock. She had fine features, high cheekbones and wide blue eyes. Close cropped hair lay in dissaray around her shoulders. Abruptly the woman turned on her heel and moved to sit in one of Rhoswen's chairs by the writing desk. Rhoswen could not contain her sudden discomfort at the sight. Who did this woman think she was? An equal come to visit for a late supper?

To distract herself from the sight, Rhoswen turned back to her guards.

"You have done well, all of you" she murmured. "Is the traitor still living?"

"Yes, my Princess. He did not resist. We have him safely in our keeping. What do you wish us to do now?" her chief guard asked. Rhoswen paused. He would kill Yacobe if she asked it, she knew, and perhaps even if she did not. Competition was fierce amongst the personal guards of both Neva and Rhoswen. Alive, Yacobe posed a threat simply because of what he knew and who he might tell. And yet Rhoswen had a fear of acting too soon. Once a thing was done there would be no going back. And there was the slender hope that one day he might be persuaded to her side once more. Once she had the child...

"My Lady?"

"Keep him safely, for now. I do not wish him killed unless he tries to escape, or to communicate with the outside. This is the most important part. He must not be allowed any contact with his clan. See that he lives, but is silenced nonetheless. You know of the way I speak?"

"Yes My Princess. And...of this woman? Shall we prepare for the same?"

"No. I have another place to put her. No one will find her or hear her there"

"Very good, My Lady"

"You may leave us now, but post two guard at my door" Rhoswen finished. Bowing, the men backed out of the chamber. Rhoswen could hear them drawing lots to determine who would guard her door. Once the chamber was silent again, she turned back to face the woman Virginia. She seemed a great deal smaller on second inspection, not counting the fact that she was huddled in a chair. Rhoswen wondered if she was cold, or perhaps had decided finally to be fearful. Either way, it pleased the Princess that a little of the natural order had been restored. She was the mistress here now. She opened her mouth to speak but Virginia cut her off.

"What will you do to Yacobe?"

"How touching that you care. Surely you know his capture of you was my idea"

"I don't think it was ever your idea, not to him" said Virginia, meeting Rhoswens gaze for the first time. The blue eyes bored into hers with nary a flicker of doubt or fear. Suddenly Rhoswen was assailed by a raft of thoughts about how she could wipe that serenity from the woman permanently. But then her gaze fell on the protruding stomach. The woman was as large as one close to delivery, although Rhoswen knew that she was unskilled in matters of childbirth to tell for sure.

"It matters not. You are here now, with me. That is all that counts. You and your...child". Rhoswen had the satisfaction of seeing Virginia flinch at her mention of the infant.

"My daughter is just a normal child. You mistake her if you seek her to be anything but"

"Oh come now! Surely you cannot be as ignorant as that. Mirrors do not lie, and what I saw was no 'ordinary' child within you. You carry the moon-shadow child, woman, do not pretend otherwise!" Rhoswen finished hotly, aware that her voice had risen uncomfortably but unable to control it. It was an effort to force calmness to her body, a sign that the tension of the past few weeks were taking their toll. A band of pain encircled her ribs, a thing that had become all too common to Rhoswen. Just a little longer, she pleaded silently. Just a little while and then I'll be powerful enough to abandon my 'mirror' and it's poisons for good. But even as she thought it she could feel the pulling, the urgency, the addiction that kept drawing her down those stairs night after night.

"You have mirrors" said Virginia, in a matter of fact way that Rhoswen was not fooled by.

"Oh yes, I have the best Mirror in all the Kingdoms. I bet you would want to get your hands on that wouldn't you? You, the spawn of the greatest mirror-mage in recent years. Powerful your mother was. The Kingdoms were fools not to yield to her. With her in charge, who knows but maybe she could have defeated me. Too late now. And all the precious Kingdoms have to rely on now is you and your weakling friends. Such a pity". Rhoswen knew she was ranting, probably unnecessarily, but this Virginia was not what she had been expecting, or even counting on. There was no wailing, weeping girl in this room tonight, begging her not to take her babe, making all sorts of threats and bribes and deals.

Behind her, the woman sighed and shifted on the chair. Her hands went to her back, rubbing absently.

"In this 'mirror' of yours that you boast about, have you used it to spy out your enemies?"

"Of course. There is little that I have not seen"

"I think there is much you have not seen, Princess Rhoswen. Have you never thought to use the mirror to find those who would seek you as a friend? Those who would...love you?" Virginia countered. Rhoswen thought the question so astoundingly strange that it took a second to work out what the woman was asking. Love me? Love _me_? What did she mean? Was it a trap?

"No, of course not. How absurd" she said, too sharply. Stupid woman. What did she think the scrying was like? A walk in the park? Why would I want to use it any more than absolutely necessary? Rhoswen paced the floor, sounding out her reasons in silence. Almost, she could ignore the plaintive whimper underneath...love me, love me, _who would love me_?

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Wolf looked down on the scene with some dismay. Beside him, he heard Scarlett also draw her breath, but whether it was with elation or an equal measure of hopelessness he couldn't say. They had left the travelling half-wolf pack behind earlier in the morning. Scarlett had come to him late in the night before.

"Wolf. Tomorrow we have to keep going up" she'd whispered, her hand gesturing out to the inky blackness. Wolf had sighed but he'd guessed it was coming anyway. No matter the distractions, the revelations, the things that had thwarted her plans, still she had clung to this addled idea of rescuing this 'dragon'. The same creature that none but Virginia had even seen, save for what the cub Alice had dreamed about. The dragon that might not even exist. Certainly there were no records, no legends of a dragon in Coven Lake, and typically in times past such things were well documented. Wolf didn't even know if a dragon could live underwater for the length of time this one would have to have done to have been so forgotten and overlooked.

But as he gazed downwards, he corrected himself slightly. If ever a being wanted to go to ground, this would be one of the places to do it. The Lake had always been seen as a place hostile and devoid of life, which was surprising since it's waters were long rumoured to be _the_ source of all the land-magics in the Kingdoms. The realm of the Goddess Coventina, no less. The last time he'd seen the Lake, it had been deep and blue and still. Now, it was a flat plain of ice, completely solid and likely hundreds of metres thick in places.

Virginia had appeared right out of that Lake not so long ago, Wolf knew. A fateful, bloody night that had been, when Elias the monster werewolf had run rampant through the Red Guard. Virginia had stopped him though. So fearless and calm, she'd simply raised her hand and he had stopped short like any well bred cur might have. Elias would not have harmed her. Not whilst his blood dwelt within her, the blood that bathed the tiny unformed foetus that was Wolfs' and Virginias' new daughter. Wolf shivered with more than cold at the strangeness that that cub had since shown. Even before birth his daughter was making her mark, on her mother most of all. Wolf couldn't help the whine that escaped him to be torn away on the cold breeze. He was a fool ten times over to have left her. Now he was hundreds of miles away whilst she languished in Wendell's overcrowded pile of stone. Anything could be happening with her. For a moment he allowed himself to hope that Tony would have gotten her out of there and back to New York if the Ice Queens' troops had so much as shown themselves before the Castle walls. They had a secret pact, Tony and he. Even if he'd had to drag her there, Wolf was confident that Tony would keep his daughter safe before all things.

Now all that Wolf had to do was get back to her, somehow.

"We shouldn't stand here on the edge. We're too exposed" Scarlett said. Wolf had been about to move them anyway, but he let her have a moment to think she had realised it ahead of him. She was like an overeager student with most things concerning woodcraft, and Wolf had to admit he'd been impressed with her skills, learned or not. In many ways it was simply a case of making her aware of what her lupine senses, so long buried and ignored, had been telling her anyway.

He followed her away from the lip of rock that formed the barrier. To their left, the cleft in the rock that usually allowed the Lake to spill down the side of the mountains in a series of falls was now eerily silent. The great sheets of water were frozen now, a beautiful sight but making for treacherous footing in the final stages of climbing. As they reached the shore, or where they thought the shore had been, Wolf stopped to scan the ground.

"I can't tell where your campsite was. It's all too covered in snow and ice. I can only guess, and from that I can only guess where Virginia came out of the water. We could be searching a long time, Scarlett"

"And this is not the most forgiving of places to live in, even for a day"

"No. We may well starve before we can even locate a likely spot to start" Wolf said, unable to keep his morose feeling to himself, even though he knew that he and Scarlett had been through too much together for it to be pointless trying to keep things from each other. As if she felt his despondance, she reached over with a gloved hand to take one of his own in hers.

Hand in hand they stood on the literal edge of the world, and then she laughed.

"Want to tell me what you're laughing for?" Wolf asked her.

"You'll be angry"

"Really? Any more than I'll be if I have to beat it out of you, she-wolf woman?"

In reply Scarlett stifled her laugh, but she could not quite hide her lupine response. Almost her lips curled in a half-snarl behind her hand. Wolf would have prompted her reaction further, after all, aggression was a thing to be learned, but she slipped out of his reach deftly, almost skipping across the ice.

"Come on then!" she called back. Wolf cursed her soundly but followed her, taking care with the slippery surface. Under his feet, the frozen water had a greenish hue, almost transparent in places. Wolf didn't like it. It was like walking on water that could open up and swallow him at any minute.

"Where are we going?" he called out. His voice seemed to be muffled by the cold air.

"Oh, you're really going to be mad"

"Will you stop saying that! What do you know about whatever makes me mad?"

"Look, then, and see"

"See what?" Wolf muttered as he scanned the endless white horizon. Just endless miles of white, so bright in places it stung the eyes. But as he roved back and forth...there it was. A tiny blip in the whiteness, a shadow. Then, just as his eyes registered, his ears caught the sound. Dim scratching it sounded like, regular and monotonous and slow. Scarlett was walking forward still, but she was slower now, as if she didn't wish to startle whoever it was. It _was_ a someone, Wolf realised belatedly. Someone kneeling on the ice, scraping at a small depression. A tiny figure...familiar somehow, but how?

Alice.

Wolf hurried forward, brushing past Scarlett. The blond woman put out her hand as if to stay him.

"Wait, don't..."

"Don't be a fool woman. I'm not angry" Wolf growled. But it was true. Despite his shock at finding the little girl-cub here of all places, he only had to take one look at her to know punishment was out of the question. She was bedraggled and so thin she looked like the wind might blow her away. She barely registered his appearance at her side. She just kept scraping away methodically at the ice with a small piece of stone. Wolf guessed that she might have been there for days already, and yet for all her effort she had made little more than a foot deep depression in the ice.

Wolf felt his heart clench tight as he gathered her onto his lap. Her fingers were blue with the cold. Anger stirred within him finally, but it was not directed at the cub, rather the power that lay under their feet. That same power that had reached out across the miles to summon a defenceless child here. For a moment he was tempted beyond reason to up and leave this place, leave the beast buried and forgotton.

Curled up in the warmth of his long coat, Wolf felt his niece begin to shiver and stir. Her eyes, so like his mothers, sought out his own and Scarletts.

"I made it uncle Lucian"

"Yes you did, Alice"

"Don't be angry at me"

"I'm not sweeting. I'm proud of you, you know" Wolf replied, feeling it truly. It had been an amazing effort for her to get here, alone and undetected. She must have followed them all the way to the walls of Hooded City, only striking out on her own when they had been delayed there. No wonder she looked so thin. She probably hadn't eaten for days. Wolf smiled at Scarlett, who was already rummaging through their meagre supplies. But Alice only sniffed at the proffered food, her attention still on the ice.

"We're too late, uncle. Almost gone she is. We'll never reach her in time. I thought you would be bringing an army with you, lots of men to dig" she said, the last part directed at Scarlett with not a little of the residual animosity that came between them. If the cub was aware of the changes in Scarlett she gave no sign of it.

"I have no army to command anymore" Scarlett said, her own face set with regret as it seemed to Wolf to be the first time she had truly realised the enormity of the task they had set for themselves. Wolf looked back and forth between them, allowing a small smile to play across his face. Scarlett did not fail to spot it.

"Ah, so now it's your turn to laugh is it?" she sputtered.

"Oh be quiet Scarlett. Please tell me, what exactly were you expecting when you got here? Just a little tap tap on the ice and hey presto, she's free?"

"Well, I..."

"Well nothing. Pure luck has gotten you here, and pure luck will no doubt save the day again"

"What do you mean? What luck?"

"_Me_. I'm the luck. Damn that woman of mine. She must have known somehow"

"You're not making any sense".

In answer, Wolf shrugged off his pack, the same one he had toted all the way from Castle White. Silly, heavy awkward thing it was, but he'd been unable to let it go. As he unwrapped his parcel, Scarlett still stared in open mouthed confusion.

"What...what is that little thing going to be able to do?" she stammered as it whistled through the air. "It's just a simple wood axe!"

Wolf laughed and brandished the Magic Axe at the ice crust. With one stroke he splintered twice as far into the crust as that which Alice had spent days scratching out. The cub shrieked with laughter as she scrabbled forward to sweep away the broken chips and shards.

"Well, go on, get digging out" Wolf said to Scarlett. "we've still a ways to go all the same".


	22. Chapter 22

_The Ice Storm_

Chapter Twenty-two

Wendell shivered and turned in his blankets. In his mind, the dream played out with frightening precision. She fell, a great plummet where the icy winds tore at her hair, her mouth open in a silent scream...

"Scarlett!" he choked, waking in a panic. Fortunately the air was so cold that his voice came out as little more than a frozen croak. Never mind that his heartbeat sounded as loud as thunder in his ears. Someone reached to put a gloved hand to his mouth and another on his shoulder. Wendell, unused to sleeping in such close proximity to another, stifled yet another yelp at the touch.

"Hush, man". Tony whispered across the tent.

"S...sorry"

"Bad dream?"

"You could call it that" Wendell whispered back. It was not really a dream, he reminded himself, just his tired mind conjuring the images he had seen in the Swamp Witches Mirror. Mirrors never lied, not like dreams did. Already numb from the cold, still he shivered. She would not fall, and even if she did, well, he would sit by her bedside and nurse her back to health! Who had said that? Perhaps it was Virginia, recounting some 'Wolfism' in happier days past. Maybe they'd been sitting in the gardens, under the sun, but it was hard to visualise the sun nowadays. The world was dying.

"Dawn soon" . Someone spoke softly from outside the tent. Wendell thought he recognized the voice of one of the many wolfen folk who had joined up with his men. They had proved themselves assets beyond anything a war commander could hope for. More than once their scouts had led them safely around isolated hamlets and armed encampments of the Eigth Kingdom.

Now, on this night, they were camped down barely a days ride from the Ice Palace. A feeling of pure luck warred with a feeling of a fatal trap in Wendells mind. But there was nothing for it now. They had come too far, through too many dangers already, to turn around and slink back home to await whatever end the Ice Queen had planned for them. And tomorrow, well, that was the day of reckoning wasn't it? Midwinters night was the deadline, and the deadly freezing spell would be sprung. Wendell doubted more than ever that even if he had made concession to this Kingdom, still the plans would have gone ahead. Surely too much magic and energy had already gone into it. Maybe the rulers of this Kingdom could not stop it even if they wanted to.

Only death would work. The oldest trick in the book. If you can't undo the spell, undo the caster. She would be aware of that, probably even expect such an attack. Maybe she was even now laughing into her hand at the foolishness of anyone who would approach her domain with little more than a hundred souls at his back. And damn near frozen souls at that, he smiled ruefully in the darkness. As the King and Commander, he had the 'luxury' of a slightly thicker blanket than the rest, but it provided little comfort in his burdened heart.

Realising he wouldn't be able to sleep anymore that night, Wendell gave up his fidgeting and slipped out of the tent. A thin silver line on the horizon heralded the approach of dawn. All about in the gloom huddled shapes, of men and wolves and those in between. The half-wolf who was nominally their 'spokeswolf', the one called Giles, slunk from the shadows to his left.

"We are very close, King Wendell" he whispered. In the dim light the half-wolfs eyes glowed a pale red, reminding Wendell that he was very glad indeed that these people had sided with him in this battle. Yet he knew that even with these ferocious fighters at his back he was still hopelessly outnumbered, probably a hundred to one. For a moment he wondered vaguely why the wolfen were prepared to risk themselves. On sudden impulse, he asked.

"We have heard strange rumours, King Wendell. More than one of us has been visited by the Goddess lately" the wolf replied rather cryptically. Wendell noticed that the red light eyeshine was as equally fervent as it was hostile. Virginia is important to us. That was what they had said. How important then, and why? Giles smiled as if he could read Wendells thoughts. "We have come to believe that Virginia is the bearer of a great tiding for our people, an old and secret thing that many thought but a fancy from easier times in the world. We would not have such a thing in the hands of an evil soul, wolf or human born".

"I...I don't understand what you mean"

"No. It is not a story of your people King Wendell. I know you are doubly curious now, but it is a thing that I dare not speak too freely of, not here when we are so close and others might be watching us. It could be that the Ice Queen is ignorant of what she has in her keeping"

"I see. For myself, I doubt it. I have had many hours with which to ponder why Virginia was taken. She has her status in the Kingdoms, to be sure, but few would agree that she herself posed a direct threat to the Eigth Kingdom. Even less so since she was with child and that was no secret. One pregnant woman with no magics surely would not make such a target, I warrant" Wendell said, once more his insides quailing at the thought of having to explain to Wolf how he had let Virginia be taken. Wolf, who even now was likely on their trail and closing fast.

There was a soft grumble from behind him, and Wendell turned to see Tony, wincing as he stretched his sore back. Tony, at least, had not blamed him for Virginias loss. At least not directly.

"You look like a new chick out of the nest for the first time, Wendell" Tony muttered with a crooked smile.

"I am afraid" Wendell answered.

"Of who? Surely not some frozen old hag in an oversized igloo?" Tony said with a show of mock bravado. Wendell didn't know what an 'igloo' was, but he decided to play along in the pretence anyway.

"Oh no, not her. It's Wolf. Boy, am I going to be in for it when he catches up with us. I've been expecting him to waltz into camp for days now and with one sweep of his paw make of me an entirely useless King to my Queen-in-waiting" he said, gesturing to his trousers and pretending to look around in fear. But instead of a laugh or rejoiner, Tony simply looked down at the ground uncomfortably.

"Wendell..." he began.

"What?" Wendell cut him off, taking steps towards his old friend. "Tell me man!"

"There's no way that Wolf will be anywhere near picking up our trail, if he stayed true to his word that is, or at least to what Virginia asked him to do"

"What do you mean?" Wendell sputtered, fear rising in his breast. "What did Virginia ask him to do?"

"Go to Coven Lake. And not just by himself" Tony mumbled. Wendell felt sick with the certainty of what he would hear next. Damn it, but he just knew something else had been going on. Damn her, she lied to me!

"Scarlett" he said, voice flat with emotion he could not utter. "She's gone to Coven Lake with Wolf, hasn't she? I knew it, I knew it. She tricked me into letting her go back to her castle. She knew I would never have agreed for her to go traipsing off to that place, I would have stopped her...somehow. What a foolish, dangerous thing to do! What a fool I've been". His voice was choking finally, He shook off Tonys placating arm from his shoulder, his mind a riot of fear and anger and frustration. Coven Lake? One could get no further from her Hooded Castle except to fall into the ocean itself. _Why there? Why now? _Wendells mind seethed with unanswered questions.

"It was her idea, in truth, to go there. Virginia told me about it. Virginia would never have asked her to do this, but since Scarlett seemed determined to go, she at least made sure that Wolf went with her, to protect her you know? And since it was obvious that you would neither let her go, nor stay behind with your people, they decided that you would be best kept in the dark. Her reasons for returning to her Castle, her fears about her siblings and the like, those were true enough, so she did not lie to you in that regard. She omitted a thing, no more. She did not want to endanger you, nor strip a Kingdom of it's King when they needed it most"

"This is no comfort, what you're saying. Why must everyone think me a weakling, unable to make my own decisions?"

"No one thinks you weak, Wendell. But you're asking the wrong person, most of all because I know so little of the minds of women, especially headstrong fairy-tale Queens" Tony replied.

"As do I, apparently" Wendell said. He felt proud and foolish at the same time. Infernal creatures, women!

"And?" said Tony expectantly.

"And what, Tony?"

"Well, don't you want to know why your wife-to-be and my future son-in-law are off traipsing all over the world?"

"Do I, or not?" Wendell said morosely. Inwardly he tried to put on a stern thought. _This had better be good!_

"Let me tell you then" whispered Tony, drawing close once more. "It all started with a little girls dream..."

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Footsteps, even hated ones, would have been a memory of comfort in the dead hearted silence Virginia now found herself in. Her arm throbbed wearily from the bruise that the Ice Princess had inflicted on it. Virginia would not have struggled with the woman anyway, fearing the risk to her unborn daughter, but that had not stopped the merciless grip as she had been 'escorted' down a long flight of stairs. Virginia had not had the time to wonder at why the Princess had stooped to do her own fetching and carrying of prisoners. Now, alone with her thoughts at last, she did. Obviously, this was a secret place of Rhoswens own devising. Was it a personal bolthole that she took pains to keep hidden from everyone else?

It was a small room, carved entirely from white stone and coated with ice, as was the rest of the palace that she had glimpsed. It was not as cold as Virginia had expected, but then she recalled the natural insulating properties of ice and was glad of them. Besides, why drag her down her if all she was going to do was freeze to death? No, for better or worse, Rhoswen wanted her alive, and secretly hers. For now anyway. All that would likely change when her daughter was born. With a pang of worry, Virginia realised that even if her child turned out be be the perfectly normal cub, Rhoswen would probably kill them both simply in anger.

"So, have a normal baby and both of us die, or have some magical 'moonchild' or whatever and only I die" she said aloud. The thick walls absorbed her words effortlessly. Virginia did not necessarily want to be discovered anyway and had made no attempts at screaming or yelling for attention. Rhoswen might be mad, or merely cruel, but she was one person. Virginia did not want to have to face a castle full of enemies. And there was still hope, slender as it was, that the Princess could be manipulated.

Virginia sat down on the narrow cot tucked into one corner. It was piled with thick furs which made her think even more that this was a personal hidey hole. Virginia sat and thought about the sort of life Rhoswen must have led to have to made her think to have such a place. A foundling child adrift in a hostile land and a castle full of plots and intrigues. Only the toughest and the craftiest survived, in both human politics and a kingdom bound by ice and snowfields. Had the Princess ever felt genuine love and affection from her step-mother? Or had she been aware, even from an early age that she was merely a tool, a thing that someone had found and decided to shape into a formidable servant? A princess by name and title, but a servant nonetheless.

Rhoswen _was_ formidable though, Virginia had to admit. Virginia had always been naturally adept at hiding her true thoughts, a legacy from years as an abandoned child, but it had been difficult to maintain a calm exterior in the womans presence. Her tall and regal poise, combined with those other aspects of her that Virginia knew of had fashioned themselves into a strong willed young woman. Someone that Virginia guessed would be seen as a credit to her family.

It was a strange feeling, but Virginia realised suddenly that she honestly hoped that one day someone from Rhoswens true family would look upon the Ice Princess that way.

Virginia was about to stretch out on the bed when she heard the sound of returning footsteps. A sharp, quick step that could only be Rhoswen herself, and underneath that, a low scraping sound like something heavy being dragged.

The door in the corner of the chamber opened, falling back with a muffled thud. In the dim light of the held lantern, Virginia could make out the tall sillouette of Rhoswen.

"I almost forgot. I have a little something for you, someone you might know actually. I am sorry that you may find his company somewhat testing at the moment" Rhoswen spoke, gesturing to a crumpled figure at her feet. Virginia could not make out any features, but she guessed at once who it might be.

"Yacobe?" she whispered.

Rhoswen laughed, a bitter choked off sound. "Ah no. Yacobe is dead. As will this one be, Virginia of the Fourth Kingdom, should anything go wrong with my plans. So, you will remain here, as my guest, you will deliver a healthy infant, you will not try to escape or to contact the outside world. These things are clear to you then? Any deviation from these rules and this one will die most surely. I may even let you watch"

Virginia reeled from the words, her hand over her face as the door slammed shut once more, casting the chamber into stillness once more. The cloaked figure on the floor uncurled itself a fraction, raised its head into the fitful light of Virginia's candle.

It was Will.

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Something was breaking free at last. With the barest of slivers of thought that she had left to her, she felt the deadly weight begin to leave. They had been coming closer, steadily, dull thuds and crashes from above. But they had such a long way to travel, these small creatures. They would not make it in time. She tried to tell this to them, to the smallest one who had been there the longest.

"_Leave me. I am lost finally_"

"No, lady-dragon. We are coming down for you. Wait for us!"

Since waiting was all she done for years uncounted, she felt it would be no great hardship to indulge the childling. Now, she could hear them. Not the silent mind voice, but real voices. A male spoke, huffing and puffing as though in great labour.

"Look, Alice, see there! I can see the dragon!"

"Hurry uncle Wolf, we must hurry".

She fell into a lull listening to them. She tried to count how many years it had been since she had heard the wild wolfen voice, be it in careful entreaties or ringing howl-song to the moon. They had always been friends, the forest folk. She was pleased that they had survived the onslaught of men even though her own people had perished or fled. A womans voice rippled through the ice.

"Careful now Wolf. We are close. We don't want that Axe to hurt her"

"I know, Scarlett, I know. But look. One more strike and we are through"

"Well what are you waiting for?"

"Have you thought about this Scarlett? I mean really thought about what we are about to free? How can we know that the dragon won't simply crush us beneath her foot, or burn us to cinders for disturbing her?"

"Only two dragons together can make the sacred fire. Even _I _remember my school lessons in dragon-lore" Scarlett said pointedly.

"Zaphira won't hurt us, uncle Wolf" chimed in Alice, her high pitched voice tinged with tiredness.

"What makes you so sure Alice?" said the wolf.

"I just know. She told me"

"She told you"

"Yes. Please, uncle...the arrow bites her"

"The arrow. Well, I hope she is kind enough to overlook one little fact about this arrow"

"What's that?" said the woman and the girl in unison.

"Well, it seems too much of a coincidence otherwise, but I guess I'm kind of responsible for putting that arrow there in the first place"


	23. Chapter 23

_The Ice Storm_

Chapter Twenty-three

Virginia felt the anger within her rage as she helped Willem up from the floor. It beat against her temples, seeking an outlet, any means of unleashing itself. She wondered briefly if the change that half wolfs went through during times of stress or anger felt to them like a vast relief, a physical transformation to mirror the mind. It made her wish fervently for just an ounce of that blood in her veins. But humans as always made do with little in the way of physical strength and much in the way of thinking and planning. Revenge was not solely a human trait, but it was one they were masters of. Will moaned quietly and abruptly the anger passed, leaving Virginia with a cold empty feeling. But at least she could concentrate now.

Lifting the lamp over his body, she felt tears come to her eyes as the light revealed his injuries. He was a mass of bruises and bite marks, several of which festered and ran with infection. She recognized the shape of the bites. They were wolf marks on his skin, deep punctures caused by long canines. Had he gotten them in an attempt to fight his way out, or had they been dealt out later, when he was tied and helpless? His face was pale and sunken with privation, making him look even less like his brother Wolf. Except the eyes; they were still the same. They were open now, gazing into hers with an edge of madness lurking in their depths.

"Will? It's me, Virginia" she said softly, bringing her hand up to his nose so that he might get a good fix on her scent. He sighed and closed his eyes again. To give herself something to do, Virginia gathered up one of the blankets from the bed, tearing it into strips which she wetted with water from the pitcher. Carefully she bathed his face and those injuries that seemed to her to be the most obvious. From the blackness of the bruises she guessed that underlying damage to bone and tissue was likely, but there was little she could do about those for now.

"Virginia?". His voice was weak and barely audible, but it roused her from the half-sleep she had fallen into, dozing in the hard backed armchair next to the bed. Virginia had no idea how long she had been asleep. Hours most likely, to judge from the protesting muscles in her back. She moved awkwardly to bring him water ladled from the pitcher. He drank deeply before making a gallant attempt to sit up and look around him. "No food I suppose?" he asked, his face a grim smile.

Virginia couldn't help but smile back at him. How typical of a half-wolf. Thinking with their stomachs. "No Will. She brought me food earlier, but that was before I knew I would be having you as my guest"

"Pity"

"You wouldn't have liked it. It was porridge" Virginia said, reaching to ruffle the fur on his lanky tail. He made a face.

"Eh, what do you think I've been living on?"

"Oh really. Now that's inhuman, as Wolf would say. I wonder how they manage to grow crops here anyway. Isn't this whole Kingdom one big icefield?"

"No, they have farmlands to the east. And they do have a summer, or sorts, when the power of even the Ice Queen wanes enough to allow the ground to thaw"

"It's hard to believe, given all that I have seen of the land" Virginia replied, thinking of the barren wasteland she and Yacobe had passed through. Though to be true, the land that seemed devoid of life had provided for them. Virginia guessed it was simply a matter of knowing how to live here.

"So, I'm assuming we lost then?" Will asked.

"Sorry?"

"The war. We lost right? Midwinter has passed and the Eigth Kingdom has devoured everyone already. That's why you're here isn't it? We're all prisoners. Is Wolf here? What about Wendell and the other leaders?"

Virginia looked closely at her brother-in-law. For an awful second the though flashed through her mind that perhaps he wasn't confused, and _she_ was the one who had lost track of time. Maybe she had been here for months already. But no. She reached out to hold his hand, still bound with the old bandage to cover the hole that one of Scarletts soldiers had put in it with an arrow.

"No, Will. Midwinter is yet to pass. It's close though. But I'm sure it hasn't. I don't know for sure, but I last saw you only a month ago, in my room at Castle White. You were going to track the ghost-wolf".

Wills eyes grew wide as he listened. "By the moon, how have I lost track of time!" he exclaimed softly.

"It happens Will. Easily"

"But then...how have you come to be here? Surely, I must be dreaming this..." he said, voice trailing away. Virginia pinched his arm gently.

"No, not a dream. I'm really here Will. Yacobe came back for me. He stole me right out of the Castle one night. I haven't seen anyone since then. Not Wendell, not Wolf, no one. Only Yacobe and now, _her_, Rhoswen"

"But how? Where is my brother? How and why would he not have found you? Even the best could not outwit him, especially with you as the prize". Virginia felt a stab of anger at his words. Dammit, but when would everyone stop thinking of her as a 'prize'? Once again, she let it go. Will of all people meant her no harm or disrespect.

"I sent him away, Will. I sent him back to the Second Kingdom with Scarlett just a few days after you left us. She was determined to go, and I in my foolishness gave him to know that it would be a good thing for him to accompany her. Of course he did it, even though he was not happy about it. Damn it that he is so trusting of me. I have sent him on a fools errand and now look at where we all are. I don't know where he is Will. He might even be dead because of me". Hot tears rained down Virginia's face, causing little clouds of steam to form in the chill air. She wept uncontrollably, the guilt and fear rushing over her in great waves that seemed like they would never end.

Willem held her awkwardly in his arms. An hour passed, or maybe more, before Virginia felt the tide of emotion start to ebb away. She felt drained and empty, but like always, the tears had helped cleanse her mind. With effort, she could focus once more. Will's kind and patient face blurred as he came close to kiss her brow.

"I would know it if my brother were dead. I don't know how, but I know I would. So fear not, little sister. But he is far from here and we must rescue ourselves now. But Virginia, there is something I do not understand about all this"

"What is that?"

"Well, ah, you. Your pregnancy to be exact". To her surprise, he blushed as he gestured to her swollen belly. "Something strange is working within you Virginia. You are so much closer to birthing than you should be, or I am no wolf. But I am supposing that this is not a new idea for you"

"No, you are right. There is something different about this cub. In a way, my daughter is the reason I am here Will. She is what they all seek to own for themselves. They say she is something called the...". Virginia broke off her sentence suddenly. Her whole body froze, growing tense and relaxing. Her stomach clenched in fear. She was dimly aware of Wills hand as he placed it softly over the swelling flesh. In fear, she met his eyes.

"Too soon Will, it's too soon..." she gasped as another telltale contraction gripped her.

"That may be, my sister. But nothing will stop this thing now. We will work together, you and I, but one way or another, your daughter-in-a-hurry has made the decision. She will be born this very day".

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Wendell had been given a set of toy soldiers once. In his childhood playroom he'd lined them up, opposing forces bristling with tiny spears and swords. Later, he'd been schooled in warcraft and battle, in the way of tradition rather than the fact that anyone ever believed he'd have to use such knowledge. There had been widescale peace in the Kingdoms since before he was born, a legacy of his esteemed Grandmother Snow-white and her 'sisters' who had formed the lands, put down the naysayers and ensured a fair go for all. The occaisional raids by the Trolls or the Eighth Kingdom wild men were few and far between. Wendells army had had no trouble in defending their lands, and Wendell had never once seen battle. Nor had he ever killed anyone.

Now, as he lay crouched in the snow, he felt his boyish notions ebb away. Where was the trumpeting, the amass of armour and pennants, the lines of willing warriors? Where, indeed, was the battle itself? He raised his head a fraction. Across the fields, rising from the snow like a great frozen flower was the Ice Palace. Wendell had only seen it depicted in the rare drawings of the even rarer artists who managed to visit the Kingdom and return in one piece. Despite his fear, Wendell knew that he was looking on a thing of rare beauty in this land. It was not made completely of ice, he knew, but ice clung to it, ice had inspired it and ice would protect it. Underneath the slick and frozen exterior lay white stone walls, crafted into graceful spires that tapered upwards to jagged peaks. It was fully as large as Castle White, he guessed, and like a great iceberg of the northern sea it likely extended a long way into the earth itself. Somewhere, down in that cold ground was Virginia.

"Look, here comes another troop" whispered someone close by. Wendell watched as the long drawbridge was lowered. The tramp of booted feet filled the air once more. Long lines of tall men and the shorter statured wolf hybrids crossed the bridge and turned on to the road, heading off in an easterly direction this time. Towards the Second Kingdom. Wendell hoped that Scarlett had been able to organise her army well enough to meet the threat that marched towards them now. The Second Kingdom army was well regarded as the best in the Kingdoms. He hoped they would be able to hold out long enough. But the Second Kingdom was much farther north than his own was, much closer to the freezing death spell about to be fulfilled on this very day. Midwinter had arrived and it was now or never.

His feet scraped along the frozen ground for a moment as his body tried to will itself to move how his mind wanted it to. But a strong hand clamped down on his shoulder, halting his forward movement.

"Be still, young King. It is not time yet" The voice was Giles the half wolf. In the dim light Wendell looked back to see the wolfs' eyes aglow with green. Giles smiled, showing his fangs broadly. "You seek revenge, and blood, young King, and you shall have it soon enough, but do not move too soon and waste what little advantage we have garnered, yes?". Wendell could only nod, but the wolf patted his shoulder as if to say he understood. Waiting was tiresome indeed. But Wendell knew the wisdom of his more experienced soldiers and allies was far greater than his own. They had gotten them so close without detection. For hours they'd lain quiet, watching troop after troop of Eighth Kingdom soldiers file out of the castle, heading off south, west and east. A morose thing to watch, but in a way it was to their advantage now. Surely the Ice Queen would not expect an attack on her very palace. Perhaps only a token force of guards had been left to watch it's walls.

Wendell raised his head slightly once more to stare at the forbidding palace. In one of the higher towers, a pale light shone from a narrow window. For a moment, Wendell thought he saw the glint of golden hair as someone paused to look out. Wendell held his breath. Did she see him? Did she know of the danger? She had magic, this woman, the ability to scry and locate her enemies. Would she be tempted to seek him out once more? Wendell found that he almost hoped she would. She would frown and curse when he told her where he was. Right outside your door! Better run and tell your evil mistress that King Wendell of the Fourth Kingdom has come calling!

Wendell had to bite back a laugh. Several of his men looked aside at him. They were all as tense as he, he realised. One by one they matched his grim smile. Many of them would likely die today._ I _could die, he thought, but the idea did not terrorise him as it once would have. He was ready.

Wendell glanced over at the captain of his guard. A brief nod, that was all that was needed. Across the way, the last of the soldiers had passed out of the palace, disappearing into the snowy waste. Wendell hoped they would travel swiftly, and not think to look behind them. Servants were scurrying forward now, labouring to crank the heavy drawbridge into place.

"It's time, my friends" Wendell said. His voice came out strong. Then, in a blur of motion, they were up, all on their feet and charging silently down to the palace walls. The wolfs outpaced the human soldiers easily, all of them, but for the King.

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The Magic Axe made short work of anything it struck, but it still needed mortal muscles to wield it. Wolf took a moment to catch his breath. Even in the gloom that he stood in, several dozen feet from what had been the surface of Coven Lake, the blade still shone with the magic that enspelled it. Wolf wondered briefly if the Axe felt at all cheated that it had been robbed of his neck that day in the Disenchanted Forest when Tony had signed him up for a potentially fatal guessing game.

Little footsteps coming back down the passage he had hollowed out made him raise the Axe once more, lest Alice catch him resting. The diminutive cub had been a rather good slave driver in the past few hours, he had to admit. More than once Wolf had caught her, staring downwards as if entranced, her lips moving soundlessly as she apparently communed with the dragon, keeping the beast appraised of their progress.

Wolf still had doubts over the reception said creature would give them, but it was too late to stop now. Most of the ice had been cleared away, leaving only a thin crust through which the image of the dragon rippled. Wolf wondered what the dragon was thinking, and more pertinently, why it was not even trying to help. Surely such a strong and powerful being could have begun to shatter away what remained of her prison?

Scarlett came trudging down the passageway, trailing what remained of her cloak behind her. She and Alice had fashioned it into a sled of sorts, using it to take the broken ice chunks away from the digging surface as Wolf waded his way down.

"How's it going?" she asked, rubbing her hand over her face wearily. Wolf had to admire her. She'd proved her worth many times over, toiling beyond the point of exhaustion.

"Nearly there. But for one problem that no Magic Axe will be able to solve that is" Wolf said. Both Scarlett and Alice stopped at his words. They knew what he was referring to. Alice went to the face where Wolf had just finished clearing, putting her eye up to the clear barrier.

"I can see it, uncle Wolf. The arrow. Can't you see it?" she said.

"Yes, I have seen it for a while now. But Alice, it may already be too late. To pull an arrow from any living thing is dangerous in itself, much less a magic arrow. It may not come out at all, or if it does, the dragon may still die"

"She knows this, uncle. But she is willing to risk it all the same" Alice replied, once more in that eerie tone of a child who is not really a child but a tool for greater souls to manipulate. Wolf sighed and took up the Axe.

Once, twice he tapped carefully at the ice. Sharp edged shards fell around his feet. There was a sudden hiss in the air, and a scent, at once new and yet recognized. The scent of a dragon. Peering through the narrow chink, Wolf could see, glinting as bright as if the sun shone on it, the silver fletching bound to the end of an arrow. Scarcely an inch remained in view. The rest was buried in flesh, a small round of pale pink flesh where once had been a scale. A missing scale. With a chill, Wolf knew exactly where that scale was.

"Uncle?". Alice was pressing against him, trying to worm her way between his body and the crack. Wolf backed away in a daze. What were the chances? Virginia's gift given dragon scale had left the beast vulnerable in it's most vital place. Who had engineered this? How many greater forces were behind things, and why? Alice was threading her tiny arm back into the hole, trying desperately to reach the arrow haft. "Uncle, help me! I can't reach it!". Someone brushed past him. Scarlett, going forward to kneel at feet of the mired dragon.

"Alice, let me try" she said softly. For a moment, Wolf was sure that the girl cub would strike the Queen away, but something in her relented finally. Scarlett inched her hand through the narrow opening. Wolf knew the moment she touched the arrow by her indrawn breath, her sudden tensing of muscles as she prepared to pull it forth. "Ready?" she muttered, but to whom Wolf could not tell.

With a wet sucking sound and a rush of blood scent, Scarlett braced her legs against the floor and pulled the arrow free. She flew backwards under the pressure, skidding across the rough surface. Wolf caught her before she slid into a sharp wall. Black blood steamed on the ice, dark with streaks of red flashing through it. Drops of it had landed on Scarletts clothes, causing them to smoke gently. Her hand was clenched tightly around the shaft of the arrow. Wolf knelt to help her to her feet.

"Don't let it go" he murmured, gesturing the the bloodied silver. Scarlett nodded her agreement. Wolf was unsure if the thing would still be inclined to head straight for the next living heart, but he wasn't going to take any chances with the hearts he currently shared the world with. He took up the Axe once, more, brandishing it.

"Come on then, she-dragon!" he shouted, hearing his words echo in the confined space. He let the Axe fall again and again, exposing the tough scaly hide. Bit by bit, the dragons head was freed. It was enormous, easily the size of one of those odd driving machines that Wolf had seen everywhere on the roads of the Tenth Kingdom. It lay at an angle, eyes closed. For a moment, Wolf was sure...

Then, with a barely detectable shudder, the eye opened to look straight at him. It was a brilliant sapphiric blue, slitted pupil like a cats. Wolf thought that he had never looked into anyones eyes, so beautiful and so terrifying at the same time. _By the moon, what have we done?_ The thought flew through his mind as the dragon opened its mouth, showing teeth the length of his arm. Wolf reached out automatically for Alice, but the cub evaded his grasp, moving forward to stand directly in front of the gaping maw. Wolf felt his heart come to a standstill as the girl reached out to touch the skin as confident as if it were a sheep.

"Zaphira" she piped.

The dragons mind-voice boomed through Wolfs head, making him put his hands up to his ears automatically. "Zaphira". There was a pause. "Yes, that is my name. A long time have I slept the dreamless sleep here. I thought myself as the last of my kind to fly free over the world. But there is another one who sleeps still and cold. He has called to me. I will go there"

The shattering sound of cracking ice filled the cavern as the dragon arched its back. Out to the sides, the dormant wings stretched, inch by inch through the thin covering that was left. Great shards fell here and there, and this time Wolf did manage to grab at Alice, pulling her out of the way. Scarlett had already turned to make her way topside. Below them the earth shook and they all fell several times trying to escape the collapsing cavern. They made it out with barely seconds to spare. Wolf hustled them several yards from the ruined lake surface before he turned back to see the most incredible sight of his life.

The dragon shot out from the icy rubble like a cork from a long overdue bottle. The great wingspan hovered over the three of them, casting the day into night. Zaphira threw back her head to trumpet a loud bugle like call. Her sinuous tail thrashed and cut the air above with a whistling sound. She was the traditional greenish colour of dragon folk, with pale yellow breast and belly scales. Just under her throat was the pink space left by the missing scale. It oozed black blood still, but it was slow now, already healing itself from the touch of the enchanted silver arrow that had pierced it. The wings beat slowly and just slightly out of normal timing, reminding Wolf that it had been far too many wolf generations since they had flown over the Kingdoms. The dragon was the most magnificent thing he'd ever seen.

Wolf couldn't help it. He howled, long and low and musical. Dimly he was aware of Alice joining her song to his, and then a new one, Scarlett herself taking up the song for her very first time. Above, the dragon Zaphira tilted her head, listening, and then with a great sweep of her tail and wings she settled once more on the ice. The long claws on her feet gripped the surface as she leant her head forward.

"I hunger!" she bellowed in their minds. Wolf thought it impossible for a dragon to smile, but this one did as she surveyed the now silent wolf pack. "But...it will wait. I fly now to my lost kin, and..." she inclined her head towards them again, "to yours".

One of the huge feet moved forwards, scraping the ice. Zaphira stared at them, at her outstretched foot, then back again. Wolf stared at the dragon. Impossible, but he knew there was no mistaking the dragons intentions.

"Huff puff!" he muttered. "You've got to be kidding!"


	24. Chapter 24

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Twenty-four

The Ice Castle was eerily silent tonight, thought Rhoswen. She stood, ill at ease in the main hall as the remaining guards took up positions around the sides. Just like they always did, except this was no ordinary evening for entertainments and stories for the Queen and her Princess to enjoy. In the middle of the vast room stood the Cauldron, an enormous iron relic left over from the days of history. Rhoswen did not know where or when her step-mother had found such a thing, only that it had stood in the hall for many months now, collecting it's magic and power slowly and carefully, guarded and revered by the people. With the magic of this cauldron, a great many boons would come to the folk of the Eighth Kingdom, it was said. Soon, those who had been hidden and forgotten would ride forth over the Kingdoms once more, laying to waste the soft southerners and their foolish customs and beliefs. So said the rumours as they came back to her, and Rhoswen was pleased because many of them she had started herself.

The Cauldron thrummed softly as a draft blew across it's surface. Rhoswen desperately wanted to go closer to the thing, to peer into it's silvery depths. She had not had the opportunity to scry for many days now, for every time she went to the source, there ahead of her was her step-mother Neva. But Neva was not using the magic to scry, rather she was collecting even more of it to add to the Cauldron, thus ensuring the strength of the spell. Rhoswen herself had been called into service by carrying the precious fluid to the hall, to let it run away into the heated silver. There was no time to pry the magic for it's secrets, and she could not afford to have Neva become suspicious of her step-daughters motives, not now when the time must surely be close.

Somewhere, below her feet, Rhoswen knew her prisoner languished still. Rhoswen had taken a great risk to peer in on the woman a few hours ago and had been content to see that Virginia had gone to some lengths to appear perfectly normal. But Rhoswen could not be so easily fooled. The birth process had begun. The tiny room had been flooded with the scents of sweat and labouring. Rhoswen did not envy the woman her painful efforts. She had witnessed births before. A part of her worried that she should have called in a midwife to supervise the birth. But that midwife would have had to be silenced, leaving yet another body lying around for potential discovery. So, it would have to be up to the mother herself to deliver well. She had done it before after all, and she had the other one with her. Wolves cared for their own. Nothing would go amiss, surely.

The tramp of feet intruded on the silence. Those guards that had remained behind to man the walls drew themselves upright as Neva's personal soldiers preceded her into the hall. Rhoswen took a moment to study her step-mother as she was escorted to the central dias below the Cauldron. Neva's skin seemed to hang on her bones, and yet she glowed with power. She had taken far more into herself than Rhoswen had ever dared, and the princess could barely fathom how the old woman still breathed with life. But the eyes, the cold black glitter that scanned the room and seemed to see _everything_, those were the same as they'd ever been. Rhoswen dipped her head when those eyes swept past her. The dutiful child. It was a role that irked her still, but it was too soon to play her hand. She would have to wait a little yet, till she had the child and a suitable time had passed for the bond to be formed between them. Then, Neva would see her foundlings true strengths. Then, the people would know that the moon-shadow child had been born, their long awaited legend at last!

'Your thoughts. They are scattered this evening, my Princess". Neva's voice grated across the room. Rhoswen tried to hide her racing pulse. What did she know? Was she discovered?

"I am but excited for our people Neva. Tonight is the mid-winter and our magic will be unleashed at last. I confess to my mind being all 'awander. I long to be here and there, to see our men cross the borders at last" she said evenly. Most of it was truth anyway, and she steadfastly pushed all other images from her thoughts.

The silence stretched out between her and Neva before the Queen turned back to the Cauldron. The old woman leant over the rim to peer into the bubbling depths, clucking over it like a proud mother cat with her kittens. As if in response, the silver liquid roiled and churned, as if trying to climb the sides and escape.

"Soon, my sweet, very soon" Neva muttered. Rhoswen dared to approach a little closer.

"Less than an hour, Neva. Less than an hour to mid-winter"

"Yes, I know. And then, this world, and all the others, will be the realm of winter forever"

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It's all going to be ok. I've done this before. Virginia had repeated the phrase over and over so often in the past hours that it seemed like a litany burned on her skin. Across the small cell like chamber, her mates' brother stood uneasily. Willem had given up his pacing some time ago and now he just watched wide eyed as Virginia stuggled with the labour. It had become apparent from the beginning that Will was not as self assured as Wolf had been when it came to birthing. He had been barred from Alices birth by the gypsy clanswomen, according to their customs. Virginia had been waiting for some sort of inner knowledge to bloom in his eyes, for his instincts to guide him in helping her. But neither had happened, and it made Virginia pause in her panicked thoughts to wonder where in the Kingdoms Wolf had learned such things. Or perhaps he'd been bluffing the whole time. He'd let the midwife stand outside the room hadn't he?

Right now, Virginia would have welcomed even that sour faced woman. Virginia was sensible and educated enough to know that things would progress regardless of who attended, but she needed the reassurance of someone calm and competent. Left to her own devices, Virginia feared she would lose control with the pain of it. She could not recall if the labouring of Caelum had been this difficult. Weren't second children supposed to be quicker and easier? Virginia had lost count of the time anyway. It was all she could do to keep a rough count of the seconds between contractions. Contractions that were inevitably drawing closer together.

The next one caught her quicker than she'd hoped. She bent double over the washstand, breathing hard.

"What shall I do?" Will asked for the hundredth time.

"Rub my back?" Virginia said between gasps. His hand was tentative at first, but Virginia welcomed it all the same. "Thankyou Will. It won't be long now, I think. You'll need to make something warm, for the baby when she comes..."

"I have Virginia, see?" Will said, holding up a makeshift wrap. It looked like he'd shredded it from the fur blankets that covered the bed. Virginia didn't recall Will making such a thing, but then her focus was purely inward she reminded herself. She didn't know how clean the blankets were, but she knew they would have to do. The contraction passed after long moments. Sweating profusely, Virginia drew off her long cloak, the same one she had worn all the way from Castle White, and let it fall to the floor. Will stooped to retrieve it. There was a soft chink as something fell out of the pocket and rolled away across the floor. It gleamed like a silver eye in the dim light.

At first the tremor was barely detectable. Virginia might have thought her own body trembled with fatigue, but she soon realised that it was the ground itself that shook. Only so slightly, but it was. She heard Will hiss in alarm.

"What is that?"

"Can you feel it?" Virginia asked him in repsonse. Will nodded and placed his broken hands flat on the icy floor. Something bubbled and crackled in the darkness. It was the dragon scale, seemingly melting away into the floor. Virginia stared at it in amazement. Surely not...

But then in a sudden moment of clarity, Virginia knew the answer. "Something has woken" she whispered, staring at the floor beneath her feet.

"Something is attacking the Palace!" Will shouted at the same time, leaping to his feet. Virginia could all but see his sensitive ears absorbing sounds that she would never be able to detect. "I can hear them, men and wolfs alike. We may yet be rescued Virginia! We may!"

Virginia tried to smile, but it was swallowed up by another gripping pain, this one far worse than any before it. She screamed before she wanted to as a telltale but insistent pressure built up, pushing, forcing it's way free. Images flooded through her clouded mind. She imagined the child as a great powerful creature of old, one now woken and alive, entombed and trapped..._plundered..._far from the sun and sky.

_I am reborn! ... _came the thunder in her mind.

_Come join with us... _sang the moonshadow-child.

There came a sudden wet pressure and Virginia bore down instinctively. The birth waters flowed down to hiss and steam on the cold floor. Her mind filled with stars and for a blindingly bright instant, a full moon seemed to tilt it's massive face down from the heavens to see.

"Lucine help me!" Virginia gasped. Will seemed to realise the situation only at the last second. He left off his listening at the door and leapt towards her. The infant came forth in a great slippery rush and he caught the baby deftly in his arms.

"A girl" he choked. Virginia felt the world sway to and fro. Dimly she was aware of Will quickly tieing off the cord with a shoelace from one of Virginia's worn boots. His hands, so recently shaking, were steady and calm. He bit neatly through the cord, severing the last physical bond between mother and daughter. He held the infant close as he bundled her up in the furs. In spite of their terrible predicament, Virginia could see the broadness of his smile and she knew her own matched it. The baby was staring wide eyed around the room. For a moment Virginia was sure the infant curved her own tiny mouth to smile at her. Will reached out to hand the baby to Virginia, but at that moment there was a roar that sounded like the earth itself was breaking up.

The ground beneath Virginia's feet split asunder. She slid backwards, unable to halt herself as she fell into the abyss. She was dimly aware of someone howling in dismay and loss, and the shrill wail of the newborn...

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Wendell felt his sword had become both a huge weight and yet as easy to wield as a feather. It was an old weapon, rarely drawn since his fathers days and he couldn't help but think that it had waited a long time for battle. He had been the first to reach the drawbridge; a foolhardy move for one so inexperienced and yet he had taken full use of the surprise on the guards faces. He had run his blade through the chest of the first person he'd encountered, wondering in the back of his mind at the sickening simplicity of it, this causing of death to another soul. Had it not been for the rest of his troops sweeping into the fray he might have been spitted where he stood, gaping at the thick red blood that steamed on the end of his blade.

In the minutes since, he'd not had so much time to wallow in his thoughts. Fighters had come from every direction. Though it seemed that the Palace was indeed bereft of the majority of it's soldiers, those remaining were not necessarily the weaker or the older.

Metal clashed with metal all around him. The cries of men in both triumph and in death, the low growls and snarls of fighting wolves. The sounds of battle as they had always been heard and written about by the victors of such terrible things. Wendell's troops were small in number, but they gained the gate within minutes, scrabbling across the slick wood surface to pass through the half open porticullis. The servants of the Ice Palace gave no resistance in themselves, falling back within the walls to allow the guards through.

Wendell slipped in blood and went down heavily on his side. A great brute of a guard bore down on him, raising his massive lance. Wendell struck out with his sword but it only glanced at the warriors iron clad boot. Wendell felt as if the whole world had slowed and come to a focus on that deadly lance tip that was being aimed at his heart. I'm dead, he thought. It was a calming sensation, not at all what he had expected. The warrior closed on him, the spear came down, and... the air exploded with noise. Wendell had never heard anything so loud in his life. The soldier above him was jerked backwards as if hit by an invisible arrow. Blood spurted from his chest as he fell backwards like a tree.

A strong hand gripped Wendell by the arm, hauling him upright. He felt dizzy and his ears rang with irritation. Several of the wolves also stood as if entranced by the sound.

"Are...you...okay?" Someone was whispering, no, shouting in his ear. Tony. In his former manservant's hand was a small black object. Wendell had never seen anything remotely like it, yet he knew that it was this thing, this tiny thing held in a trembling hand that had made that noise. A conversation came back to him. _It's no good thing I carry, but it will do you no harm, I promise_. Wendell looked at the downed soldier, then back to Tony. The older man smiled grimly and made a gesture to the stunned wolves and guards.

"It's, like a magic arrow, you know? I won't let it hurt you, but it'll make a lot of noise"

"But..." Wendell stammered as the fighting resumed once more around him.

"Come on Wendell!" Tony shouted at him. "Put up that fancy sword of yours!"

"But..."

"I'm not that good of a shot with this thing! I'm a janitor you know!"


	25. Chapter 25

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Twenty-five

"Attack, attack! We are under attack!" the man shouted as he skidded to a halt inside the Great Hall of the Ice Palace. He was bleeding profusely from a gash in his arm. Rhoswen stared at the flowing blood, her mind captured by the richness of the scent. It was a moment before she could register on the mans' message. Attack? By whom? Neva was demanding the same information, snapping her fingers to get the wounded guards attention.

"Who dares attack us?" she shouted. Her voice was full of the lethal power she could command. The man stood briskly to attention, despite the fact that his lifes blood continued to flow.

"We think it is the Fourth Kingdom, Your Majesty. Men and wolves together. I am sure I recognized King Wendell himself"

"King Wendell? Men _and_ wolves? Fourth Kingdom soldiers don't fight side by side with wolves. Only our people do" Rhoswen cut in sharply, forgetting completely that she had just spoken over the top of the Queen. Neva shot her a surprised glance but remained silent as the guard answered.

"Traditionally no, but they are here nonetheless Princess. Not many to be sure, but they fight well and without fear"

"They fight out of desperation. They must surely be weakened from their journey here. They will not long continue this offensive. Finish them off quickly, and see that they do not approach this hall" Neva said, turning back to the Cauldron as if dismissing the matter entirely. Rhoswen gaped at her openly, knowing that her expression was mirrored by the many soldiers in the room with them. People with their backs to the wall, people with desperation fought all the more for their survival. Didn't she know that? And yet, in the back of her mind, Rhoswen knew a moment of quiet triumph. Neva was so out of touch with the reality of war and fighting. Only the magic was important in her mind. How long would the soldiers respect such a one as her?

"You are wounded, soldier" Rhoswen said, crossing to where the man stood awkwardly recounting details to the guards who clustered around him. They were making hasty plans, and she knew she ought not to disturb them, but...

"It's nothing, My Princess. I can still fight"

"Yes, of course, I have complete faith in your protection. It pains me to see your blood spilt on my account though" she replied. Rhoswen watched as the man stood a little taller under her praise. He left the hall with half of the remaining men, the rest taking up a defensive position in front of the doors. The smell of the blood still hung in the air, making Rhoswens senses come alive. For a moment, she let the wolf out to scan the room, the castle. She was not startled by Neva's silent approach behind her.

"You think I don't know, don't you?" Neva grated.

"I am only what you have made of me"

"A double edged sword indeed, little Princess"

"You are disappointed?"

"Oh no. But that does not mean I will ever let your plans come to fruition. It seems to me that I ought instead find myself another heir. Perhaps you can help me find such a one". She was so close that Rhoswen could feel her breath on the back of her neck. Instinct made her hands form claws, her gaze red tinted. But how confident she was, this Queen, to stand so close to such lethal power. Just reach out, snap that bird like spine. _The only mother you've ever had_. Do it, her mind hissed. But look, at the soldiers. They watch so closely now. They wonder what the Queen says to the Princess. Perhaps they only wait for the opportunity. Rhoswen's mind raced so much that it seemed the floor trembled beneath her feet.

A dozen placating replies formed on her lips, but just as she was about to speak, a frightening noise invaded the Palace. A noise that was so quick to come and go, and yet how could the whole world have not heard it? The men shouted in alarm to each other.

"What was that?" Neva had crossed to the other side of the room. Her voice sounded only shrill now to Rhoswen's still ringing ears. It came again, a massive boom and then silence. Closer this time. The ground _was_ shaking. Rhoswens heart pounded in her mind, a sensation she recognized as fear. They were coming...

Neva's voice followed her as Rhoswen turned and ran for one of the side doors. "Rhoswen, where do you go? Come back!" A piece of the gilded ceiling crashed down on her heels as she wrenched the door open. Down, down, she needed to go down. If anything needed to be salvaged, it was down here in the depths of the earth. A tiny life, a life for the ransoming.

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Wendell's ears had gone comfortably numb in the din caused by battle. It rang off the stone walls and thrummed in his blood. The very ground seemed to vibrate under him. Clash, rattle, whistle. Swords and teeth came together. And over the top of all that, the booming thunder of Lord Antonys weapon. Wendell glanced back over his shoulder to see his former manservant standing atop a table, seemingly firing the weapon oh so calmly, like he was a seasoned battle veteran. Only Wendell could see the fine tremble of the hands, the blank whiteness of the face. Boom. An Eighth Kingdom soldier fell where he stood, his eyes gaping in surprise. For a second, dismay flooded Wendell. What _was_ this thing, this horrible device that brought such swift death from such a distance? Where was the honour of such a weapon? Why, a man could claim a multitude of lives with this thing, and be not in a particle of danger in return from his enemies!

He didn't like it. He wanted to run at Tony and snatch the terrible thing away. And yet, here they stood, he and his ragtag 'army', before the doors of the Great Hall. Would they have gotten this far without the weapon? It was useless to debate the matter, he realised. Likely or not, here they were, and even Wendell, inexperienced as he was, could tell that something of importance lay behind those doors. Or, _someone_. The fighting had reached another level entirely. These soldiers fought like cornered animals protecting their young. Perhaps the Queen herself cowered within. The thought gave him a measure of comfort. He had survived this far, with luck he could have his wish granted.

Only a few Ice Kingdom soldiers remained before the doors. They were beset, and outnumbered. Wendell heard Rupert calling for the men to surrender.

"They won't" panted someone in his ear. It was Giles the wolf. Wendell glanced at him. The wolf had a long gash across his cheek which looked like it had been caused by teeth. He doubted that Giles felt it, or even if he knew about it. The wolf's own fangs protruded beyond his lower lip and his chin and neck were stained with blood not his own.

"They have fought well" Wendell said in reply, watching the standoff.

"Aye. We expected no less. And yet, we must finish this soon King Wendell. No doubt they sent swift messengers to their forces on the road. They may even now been hastening back to the Palace and we would not last long against them"

"Yes, you are right" Wendell said. He moved on impulse to stand just behind the ring of his soldiers who held the Eighth Kingdom guards at bay. There was a dim crashing sound from behind the doors and the ground rumbled again, giving Wendell a queasy feeling. Was the Palace unstable? Was the Ice Queen attempting to bring it down around them?

"Soldiers of the Eighth Kingdom, you are bested. Lay down your weapons and your lives will be spared. I, King Wendell, give you this assurance"

"You don't understand, lowland King. Our lives are forfeit in any case. Our Queen will tolerate no deserters. She would have us spend our lives even in defeat. She would have us fight fairly, man to man, not hide behind the thunder-weapon such as you have done". One of the men leaned forward and spat at the ground at Wendell's feet. But far from being angered, Wendell knew the truth of what the man said.

"I cannot undo what has been done. Nor can I turn aside from my sworn duty to protect my people and my land. I did not ask for this weapon to come to my hands, and yet had it not you would no doubt be trampling my body into the snow" Wendell said. The man smiled bitterly.

"But not only death do you bring to my fellows, but this weapon would bring down the entire Palace. Have you not felt the earth tremble beneath us? So, your campaign will come to naught after all. I only need keep you here a while longer and then we will all be crushed" he spat. And as if in response to his words, the floor did indeed quake and heave, like it was being forced upwards by a massive pressure. Wendell felt his feet sliding sideways a fraction before he dug the tip of his sword into the surface to halt himself. He looked back at Tony. The older man had gotten down from his perch. Silently he shook his head.

'No, you're wrong, all of you. This is but a small gun. There's no way it would be able to topple a whole castle, loud noise or not"

"Then what..." Wendell began, but he was cut off by more crashing from within the room behind the doors. The men protecting it stared wide eyed at the floor as it began to buckle and fold like it was made of silk, not stone. With a great roar the wall behind them cracked and splintered. The doors shook and collapsed inwards, revealing a large hall beyond. Wendell gripped his sword hilt firmly as he waded through the falling debris. One of the wolves had already made it through ahead of him. The man who had spat and cursed swung his axe wide, but Wendell was quicker, leaning in to stab swiftly, in and out, his blade dripping red as he pushed forward.

There was only one person within who claimed his attention now. Standing behind a massive cauldron, her hands and mouth forming incantations even as the Palace fell around her. The Ice Queen saw him and threw back her head in a defiant laugh.

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Willem crept as close as he dared to the edge of the crack in the floor. Close against the crook of his arm he held the wailing infant. He didn't dare to put her down anywhere lest she also be tumbled into the pit.

"Virginia?" he shouted downwards into the darkness. There was no answer. He couldn't see the bottom, he didn't even know if it had a bottom. She might still be falling for all he knew. Panic warred within him. He forced his body to calmness, stretching out with all his senses. His wolfen mind desperately tried to make sense of what he heard and smelt. Could that be a heartbeat he heard? Were those breaths, or merely gusts of air from whatever lay below?

"Virginia" he howled softly.

He was so intent on listening for any sign of her that he did not hear the quick footsteps coming up behind him. Too late he scented the intruder and recognized her. Rhoswen, come to claim the prize.

"No" he breathed. "By my life, no..."

"So be it". It was a whisper, no more. The blade sank deep, biting into his flesh.

_Someone brushed past him, a soft hand caressed his hair. No one hand done that in so many years. He thought he would swoon from the pleasure of it. He stood in a bright circle of light. Strong arms encircled him. He knew them, after so many moons, he knew them all._

_Someone called out, and the forest rang with wolfsong. "Caelum, come and see! Look now, our son has come home"_


	26. Chapter 26

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Twenty-six

It felt like she had fallen a mile or more, but as Virginia gazed upwards she could see that it had been more of a slide. Not unlike the dwarf mine slide, only a lot faster and colder. And more painful. Her womb was still contracting weakly, pushing out the last remains of the afterbirth. Looking around carefully, Virginia could see that she was alone. The baby had thankfully still been secure in Willems arms when the ground had opened up. She could only hope that he would be able to keep the infant safe until they could work out how to get her out of there. Virginia couldn't see exactly where she had come from, but she called out anyway. There was no answer, or perhaps there had been but she was unable to hear it with her human ears.

"I'm okay...I think. I don't know where I am though" she shouted. Only the faint echo of her own voice responded. Virginia's legs felt shaky beneath her as she gained her feet. Amazing how much lighter she already felt. Tearing off what remained of her long cloak, she used strips to clean herself, wincing at the tender flesh.

"Don't 'spose there'd be a hot bath down here huh?" she muttered. Darn it, but was nothing ever normal in this crazy world? "Imagine, if you will, giving birth somewhere underneath an Ice Palace where you're nothing but a prisoner, and then to top things off, the ground splits open and down you go..." she continued. Part of her knew she was gabbling nonsense. She ought to sit down, rest some and gather her wits again. Perhaps she had lost too much blood, maybe she was dying. She didn't know. A pace in front of her though, was a very familiar object. She leant to pick up the silvery disc of the dragon scale, wondering at how it had survived intact.

"I'm just so tired, you know" she rambled, "I can't remember the last time I slept in a real bed, or saw the blue sky"

"Nor I" came the answer from the darkness. Virginia froze. What an eerie voice, she thought. Like it had been spoken not aloud, but quietly in the mind. It was not unlike the Goddess Coventina's way of speaking, and for a moment Virginia's spirits soared. But no, odd or not, this was definately a male voice speaking to her. And Coventina the water Goddess was frozen, a dead entity surely.

"Hello?"

"Who are you?" returned the disembodied voice.

"Virginia...I'm from the Fourth Kingdom. I'm a prisoner here...I think"

"You are a human woman" said the voice, as a statement rather than a question. There came another shudder in the earth. To Virginia it sounded now like a great scraping, someone or something digging and clawing at rock and ice. With a sudden insight, Virginia realised who the speaker was.

"Where are you?" she asked. It seemed impossible to tell in the gloom, but she needed to see for herself, to be sure.

"Behind you, little woman". Virginia spun, clutching at her dizzy head. And there, so hard to spot but now so obvious, a hulking darkness against the pale glow of centuries old ice. Before the shape there seemed to be a small chamber, part of it's inner walls now collapsed, and it was this that Virginia was staring through. Gingerly she made her way forward, brushing against fallen stone and debris.

Someone had brought down a small wool rug at some time past. Perhaps to sit upon, for there was no other furnishings in the ice carved room. Nor was there, that Virginia could see, any exit or entry. She stooped to draw the frozen rug around her shoulders.

"You are cold. I had forgotten how weak the humankind are. No wonder that my kin said to one another, nay, the men are no threat to us. Yet those who doubted were the first to feel the bite. One by one they hunted us, all for the love of the silver and the power it brought them. Do they still make the mirrors, do you know?"

"Not many these days" Virginia ventured, unsure as to how this huge creature would respond. She certainly had no desire to point out the fact of the male dragon's seeming 'addiction' to that same magic silver. The dragon clawed at the ice again, making the ground tremble, but it was ever so slightly weaker. Virginia could see the creature was tiring from it's efforts to free itself.

"Can I help you?" she asked it. The dragon left off it's scraping to fix it's blurry eye through the ice at her.

"And why, pray tell, would you want to do that? Surely you do not wish me to escape this place. Where then will you come by the source of your magic? Or perhaps you have plundered me enough?" it hissed at her. Virginia felt the weight of it's malevolent glare.

"No, wait. You mistake me. I'm not from this land, and you have no idea how true that is. My name is Virginia, and I have...I have"

"What...?"

"Brought something to you...from one you used to know" Virginia finished in a rush, ignoring the rising fear. The dragon scale disc thrummed with energy as she held it up, and all around the edges it glowed with a silvery blue light. There was a muted cracking sound and Virginia realised that the dragon in front of her was pushing it's massive head against the ice, almost butting in fact. Virginia took a step backwards as the last barrier shattered loudly, throwing echoes all through the underground cavern. For a terrifying moment, she thought she had made a grave error. What indeed would such a creature think, faced with a puny human holding a piece of it's kin aloft as a trophy?

The huge head with it's gaping maw thrust towards her, stopping a scant few inches from her face. Virginia felt a part of her mind grow numb with terror as she unwittingly recalled being faced with another set of gleaming fangs, baying for her blood. Elias the werewolf had taken her down unknowingly, and yet even his horrible visage was nothing compared to the dragon. These teeth were fully as long as her arm. She closed her eyes, surprising herself as calm swept through her. Yes, yes, I've done this before. Some dim memory of her mother came to her, staring across the void.

But the dragon never struck. Instead it simply breathed, a cold and metallic breeze against her skin.

"Zaphira" the dragon whispered. Virginia could only nod mutely. "Then...she is not a dream at all" it said.

"No. She lives..."

"She has been calling to me. I thought her a dream finally, for so sure was I that I alone survived of my kindred. It seemed a cruel thing, to me, to dream so vividly. So cruel, that in many ways I wished for the Ice Queen to drain me dry indeed and let me escape it. But this is a living scale, surely. I remember her, Zaphira. She was young still when she vanished. We thought her lost, but we had no time even for the proper mourning"

"I know, I know where she is" Virginia said. "In fact, even now my own mate and friend seek her out. She is in danger, as much as you are. The Ice Queen's spell has reached her hiding spot, as far away as it is from here"

"The same magic that has grown strong from my blood, no less" answered the dragon. Virginia was sure she could hear the bitter irony in it's musical voice.

"But if we hurry, we may..." Virginia said. But the dragon cocked it's head to one side now, just like Wendell had done when he'd been trapped in the body of a dog.

"Indeed we must, little Virginia. For even now a sound most beloved in all the world has reached my ears. Far away you say? I think not. Come with me now, and bear witness to the oldest of all magics in the world" the dragon said. Virginia had to step back once more as the dragon found a last reserve of strength to batter it's way free. As more rubble fell, Virginia saw the remains of a twisting stairway revealed, and a pale light from above. But the dragon had no intention of using the stairwell, even if it had managed to fit it's massive body in it. Great sweeps of it's taloned feet cleared space ahead. Virginia was sure that the dragon had forgotten her in it's haste, but just as she was sure she would be crushed, she felt something grab her, entwining itself gently around her torso. Virginia couldn't help the shriek as she was lifted off her feet to be placed snugly astride the dragons back. She reached to grab hold of a large diamond shaped crest scale that jutted out from the dragon's spine. The skin where she touched it was warm, verging on hot.

Slowly but surely, the dragon began to climb it's way free. Dim sounds reached her ears, men shouting, the ring of sword against sword. Was Willem right? Was there fighting in the Palace? Upward the dragon pushed ahead. Virginia was on the verge of shouting to the creature what it was that it could hear above the battle noise, when she heard it herself. A thrumming sound, a completely unfamiliar one, but once heard, never forgotten.

The wings of a dragon.

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I've come such a long way, Wendell said to himself. Once again the commotion around him seemed to slow and muffle itself. Only he, and his weapon remained. The long blade gleamed bloodstained silver in the moonlight. Moonlight? Ah yes, something had caused the ceiling of the Hall to collapse. But where Wendell had once thought it to be the work of the Ice Queen, he now guessed otherwise. The old woman, his ancient enemy, stood uneasily behind the massive cauldron. She was partly watching Wendell himself, partly staring skywards as if in shock at the destruction of her Hall.

Someone pushed at him roughly. "Watch yourself man" shouted a man in his ear. Wendell couldn't recall the soldiers name, and it shamed him, but the man had saved his life. Another large part of the roof came down where he had been standing. It was white stone, painted over with gilt stars and cool blue snowflakes. Wendell would have stood and admired it under other circumstances, he knew. Now, however, it was yet another hazard of the battle for control of the Ice Palace. Even if no one seemed to know exactly why the castle was shaking and rolling as it was.

Those remaining Eigth Kingdom guards were being subdued. Wendell saw that Tony had put away his weapon. The tall man was pushing his way forward with several wolves at his side.

"Where is she?" shouted Tony. "Where is my daughter, you old witch!"

Wendell sidled forward to catch the Ice Queen's answer, but there was none forthcoming. The old woman wasn't even looking at them anymore, rather she was staring down over the rim of the cauldron. Glittery white light played over her face. She spread her arms wide and smoke seemed to form between them. It cascaded down and around her, forming itself into a glowing ball of light. As Wendell watched, Tony was forced backwards a step. The older man cursed, and one of the wolfs put a paw up to the light, withdrawing it quickly with a yelp of surprise.

Wendell had reached Tony's side and together they stared into what now looked just like a ball of ice. Wendell tapped the hilt of his sword against it. It was dull clunkng sound, like the ball was completely solid, and yet he could see the Ice Queen moving around inside it. One of Wendell's soldiers heaved his battle axe, but it bounced off the surface with not a trace of damage. Rather the axe was splintered and fell to the cracked ground in two pieces.

Someone was laughing, a cold laugh that made Wendell's hair stand up on end.

"You fool of a King. You have vastly underestimated me, as you always have. But now, fortune has favoured the Eighth Kingdom. I have found a great source of magic, far stronger even than the Gods and Goddesses of old. You cannot stop me, even if you had behind you every fighting man from every Kingdom" the Ice Queen ranted, her voice growing louder with every word. Behind him, Wendell heard some of the captured guards shout as if in victory.

Tony pounded his fists against the impenetrable barrier. "Tell me where she is!" he hollered, as if he had not heard a word the witch had said. Wendell admired his ability to focus still on what was most important to him. Wendell had not forgotten Virginia, but he knew that her welfare paled in comparison to what was about to befall the Kingdoms. Unless they could breach the barrier, somehow.

The Ice Queen stared back at Tony momentarily, her face a puzzled mask for an instant. "I know not who you mean, man. But watch with me now, if you will, poor soon to be forgotten King. The time is at hand. Midwinter has arrived! Let the Ice Storm begin!" she shouted, fist pointed to the bare night sky above. Wendell felt his bones rattle at the power that flooded the room. Through the hazy blue tinted air that gathered above the cauldron, he knew that the ground beneath his feet quaked and trembled, throwing men and wolfs to all sides. Even the Ice Queen had to grip the sides of the cauldron to support herself.

Only Wendell kept his feet, his sword tip stuck into the floor. Whatever was in the cauldron was now boiling with activity, forming threads of gleaming power that snaked their way past the icy barrier, heading upwards to the open sky. Against the inky backdrop of the night sky, the threads spread out, heading in all directions. Wendell felt tears burn his eyes at the sight. Death and ruin was coming to his people. He had failed them.

The Ice Queen laughed and capered before her cauldron. Wendell began to lose his grip on his sword. The floor around him was tilting ever steeper. Men shouted and wolfs howled as they were dashed against the walls. Wendell saw his loyal friend Rupert slide at great speed into a wall, his cry of alarm abruptly cut off. Wendell felt an echo of that same despair building within himself, but it died mute on his lips as a legendary vision appeared from underneath the castle floor.

A dragon? His eyes were registering the fact long before his mind caught up with them. He blinked and rubbed at them, but the dragon refused to go away. Rather, it grew, or it appeared to, clawing it's way up from wherever it had been. Then, great fear swept him. Was this the end? Was this a last great trick of the Ice Queen? No wonder the Eighth Kingdom soldiers had never quit the fight. They had this huge beast to back them up!

Wendell laboured to free his sword from the floor where he had stuck it deep. He had one chance, one slender chance to strike at the dragon before it saw him. His sword came free with a faint whistle as he swung it around. He was closing on the dragon, when with only yards to spare, a frantic voice shouting halted him in his tracks. He skidded to an awkard stop. It was Virginia's voice, without a doubt. Virginia, calling and waving and shouting at him to...what? Stop!

"No...no, Wendell, don't" she was saying. Wendell couldn't see her properly. She seemed to loom over him as if flying. Only she wasn't flying, she was clinging to the back of the dragon. And she wasn't screaming in fear, or even alarm, but rather jublilation as she pointed to the moon flooded sky above.

Wendell followed her gaze. His whole heart came to a standstill in his chest. He could only focus on one living thing, a face so precious and beautiful he thought he would die for the love for it.

Scarlett.

And out of the sky she fell.


	27. Chapter 27

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Twenty-seven

She fell, a great plummet from the sky, her mouth open wide in a silent scream...

Scarlett knew the wind was tearing her words away, but then she had been without coherent speech for the entire past hour. The biting cold, the sharpness of the ice crystals on her lashes were all forgotten. Strong arms were wrapped around her from behind. She didn't have to look back to know that Wolf was having precisely the same reaction she was. As was Alice, the tiny girl who was huddled deep into Scarlett's cloak, her white face peering out at the world from so far above. And so it had been for the three of them since they had taken their first faltering steps towards Zaphira, climbing uncertainly onto her broad back, finding purchase on the tough hide.

And then, liftoff. Like the great heavy water fowl of the lakes, dragons needed space to to take to the air. Great bounds had seen them pick up speed so intoxicating that the three riders had howled and yipped all the way, that is until the huge wings had begun to pound the air. The lurch of her stomach as Zaphira had taken to flight had silenced Scarlett abruptly. Her vision had swum crazily. The ground had dwindled away so quickly! Within seconds, the trees had become twigs, boulders as pebbles, the river like a thread of silk.

Wolf had been laughing at the sights. Alice had daringly spread her arms wide, secure in some knowledge that they were completely safe. And the dragon Zaphira had beat her wings slowly, gently, as if taking the utmost care not to unseat her puny riders. To the east she turned in a great arc, heading into the sunset.

"Where is she taking us?" Wolf shouted over the wind. Scarlett thought she could guess, but how to explain it?

"Wait and see" she said over her shoulder. Wolf's eyes were bulging so much that she thought he would have scarcely listened to her answer even if she'd told him.

"Look" he said, pointing down. "Riding Hood Forest...it's so small from up here!". And so it was, the great green expanse that Scarlett had feared and detested most of her life. If only she'd known otherwise. But it was useless to take affront anymore at the lies and secrets of her family. She no longer felt the burning desire for revenge. After all, had her eyes not been opened, would not she have proved a greater threat to her own people? Would she have lied to her own daughters? Of course she would. She wondered where her mother was, down there in the Kingdom somewhere that was flashing past. Scarlett knew that she would probably not be able to ever sit at ease with her mother or her brother again, nor they with her. But that didn't matter. She would have Wendell, and besides, who knew what other scions of the Riding Hood family she might meet? She laughed into the wind. Little Alice was singing and Wolf was yipping madly, and they were astride the back of a dragon, flying over the world like eagles!

Below, the frozen river widened into the familiar shorelines that she had known as a child. And there, nestled between the shores and the forest, lay Hooded City, her home. How out of place it looked, a foreign jostle of houses and halls. She saw it as the forest folk saw it, and yet despite it's being beset by the freezing cold it still thrummed with life, whereas the natural world had all but collapsed. People were still out on the streets. Some, looking up, saw the great shape fly over their heads, and even if none had ever seen such a thing before, all knew instantly.

"A dragon, look up there, a dragon flies!" they shouted. Others joined in the calls. Alarm spread. "The dragons have come again, run for your lives!" they shouted and scrambled. But just as many stood in mute astonishment and a great gladness filled their hearts. But none saw the tiny riders, none knew that their very own Queen (and how strange that no one has seen her for many a day now?) passed them by. Scarlett found herself hoping that one at least beheld her as she flew past. She hoped dearly that her traitorous little brother stood at his windows and saw her!

All too quickly though, the walls of the city were behind them. Zaphira changed her course slightly to the north now, beginning an arduous climb over the barrier of mountains that separated the Second Kingdom from the Eighth. This was territory completely new to Scarlett, but no less enthralling. They were flying into the deepening dusk and a glimmer of the full moon began to rise over the horizon. Scarlett found herself transfixed by the moon. It was in a sense, the first time she had beheld it as a wolf-woman. Wolf had told her some of the legends of Lucine, and Virginia had even met her. Scarlett sent a silent howl to the rising moon. Goddess, I hope you do not find your newest daughter wanting.

_But of course not_.

Scarlett heard the words, but she knew somehow, that they were not just about her.

Darkness and cold settled over them now. A white and flat land spread out, throwing back the reflection that was Zaphira's shadow as they passed over it. Scarlett and Alice and Wolf huddled in closer to one another. Just as she knew she was beginning to falter from the bitterness of the cold, Scarlett became aware of a change in the dragon's flight. She was so much lower now, and circling downwards in a wide spiral. Dizzy, Scarlett tried to see where the dragon was headed. The size of the Ice Palace made her gasp aloud. It was massive even from a height, and it was beautiful to look at. It was crafted in the shape of a giant snowflake, with a single great domed centre. It glittered white in the moonlight, and smaller man made lights shone from many windows.

But as they drew lower, it became apparent that all was not right within the Palace. Dim sounds of men shouting, wolf's howling. And there, right in the silver dome roof, a piece of it had fallen away! Even as she watched, another chunk fell and she could hear clearly now the crash as it struck the floor below. Zaphira ceased in her circling to hang in the air over the Palace. She appeared to be looking directly down through the hole in it's ceiling. Scarlett couldn't make out what the dragon was looking at, but she read her intentions regardless. Wolf seemed to figure it out just at the same time.

"Oh cripes!" he shouted. "Hold onnnnnnnnnn"

With a stomach lurching drop, Zaphira dived. Head down, tail outstretched, she made directly for the gaping space like a falcon stooping upon a mouse. It seemed a large hole, but Scarlett didnt know if the dragon would fit through it. The ground rushed up to meet them, and Scarlett, mouth open wide in a scream that wouldn't come out, saw many things below. A huge cauldron filled with silver liquid encased in an ice white orb, a tiled floor that seemed to ripple and churn from within, a cluster of men huddled against the broken walls, and there, unmistakeable in his armour, her love, her Wendell. His eyes were only for her, and she for his. The strength of their bond leapt out to renew itself, momentarly blinding Scarlett to the facts of where they were and what was going on around them.

The wind rushed as Zaphira beat her wings wildly, slowing her freefall. The hall was in disarray as she settled softly on the ruined floor. Someone was pulling at her cloak, a hand was laid over her own, gently but forcefully detaching her grip from the dragons back. She was being lifted, sliding sideways now down Zaphira's back. She was laughing, hysterical almost as her feet touched the earth once more. Even better, someone she loved was holding her in his arms.

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Wolf watched distractedly as Wendell embraced Scarlett. His mind was all a riot of sensations. He could scarcely understand his own thoughts. He felt ill from the wild ride, but over all of that was the euphoria of it. Wolf knew he would probably never experience anything like it ever again. Surely, the Goddess had not meant for wolf's to fly though, else she would have given them wings! Wolf huffed and puffed a little to clear his mind. As much as he wanted to savour the flight, he knew this was not the time or place for it. They had landed right in the middle of the enemies palace, no less. And here, of all people, was Wendell himself! What in the Kingdoms had persuaded Wendell to come here? Wolf looked quickly around the Hall, seeing many of the Fourth Kingdom soldiers that he knew. There were only a few soldiers in the different livery of the Eighth Kingdom that he could see. A large man knelt with his back to him, tending to another who lay unmoving on the floor. Tony?

This was getting stranger and stranger. Then a scent, one that had been demanding his attention for many long seconds, finally registered in his wolf brain. Virginia! His mate was here! He was whirling around before the shock settled in. Where where where? And suddenly, there she was, stepping out from behind Zaphira...no, wait, not Zaphira but another dragon. A larger dragon, one who was even now shaking off the last of the broken floor and stretching his cold wings just like Wolf had seen Zaphira do. It all made sense, and yet none of it made sense. Wolf scratched at his temple. Virginia was coming closer, and already he was assessing her. She looked pale and she reeked of blood. Her steps were faltering, awkward, her posture hunched forward.

Wolf reached out to support her as she came into his arms. She was trembling with fatigue. Pressed close against him, the reason became clear. She had given birth, probably within the past hour. Automatically, Wolf scented for the baby. It was one he would know instinctively, but none came to him. A quiet wailing began in his mind. Surely she could not be lost. And why here? There were too many questions and Wolf didn't know where to begin. And now Willem! Clear as day was his brother's scent on Virginia's clothes.

Wolf opened his mouth to speak but his attention was caught by a loud commotion. Many booted feet, many men running through the Palace, closing in on them. Someone was beating on the broken down doors, trying to force their way through the piles of rubble. Wolf saw Wendell break away from Scarlett to listen to the noise. Someone spoke to the King, the wolf Giles.

"It's the troops we saw leaving earlier. They must have been called back. They are more than a thousand, My Lord".

Wendell turned, seeming to see Wolf for the first time. His face was creased with fear and yet a slight smile played on his face at the sight of Wolf and Virginia.

"I fear we have overplayed our hand" he said softly.

Someone laughed quietly, a girlish giggle in fact. Alice. Wolf had almost forgotten her. She stood, completely at ease between the two enormous heads of the dragons, one tiny hand on each in fact. She smiled, and Wolf was sure that the little girl was entirely pleased to have everyones attention on her. As well she might, he thought. If the dragons were speaking with each other, no one could hear it, but no one could mistake their actions. Long necks almost entwined, they lay close together seemingly in a world of their own. No one could take their eyes off them, including the Ice Queen, who Wolf had only just noticed. The old woman had encased herself within a sphere of ice, and within that lay a large cauldron. Long tendrils of magic floated upwards from the cauldron, up to the sky and out in all directions. Death to the Kingdoms was written on her wizened face.

"You have weakened me" said a voice. It was a male voice, loud and terrifying and completely within the minds of the listeners. The male dragon raised his head and hunched his claws forward a fraction. The Ice Queen scowled from behind her barrier. Wolf could see the efforts that had been made to breach the orb; broken axes and swords lay all around it.

"You are too late, Zorn" said the Ice Queen. "I have what I need to rule the Kingdoms. Soon, you and your doom ridden kind will be mine also. You would be wise to fly now, while you can". She was a formidable woman, and Wolf had to admire her mettle to face down an angry dragon. And maybe she was right. Maybe she was as strong as she said she was. A pity, though, that she had not included the oldest and most powerful race of beings in her quest for domination. Even though she knew otherwise, she had bought into the myth that all the dragons were dead.

"I would take back what is mine, I think" said Zorn. He had moved closer once more, Zaphira taking up a position at his side. Together they stared down at the ice-orb and it's contents. Wolf wondered just what the Ice Queen had taken from the dragon, and he hoped he would find out. Because he knew that the Ice Queen had miscalculated on one vital aspect of dragon-lore. One dragon alone was essentially without defences. Everyone knew that a single dragon could not breathe the fire. But two dragons, a male and female, well that was another matter altogether.

Was it getting hotter? Impossible as it seemed, Wolf was sure that it was. Like a slow burning furnace, the dragon pair were radiating heat into the room. Small wisps of steam curled from their nostrils now. Alice, who had so far stood fearless between them, now sidled away, moving quickly down the length of the bodies to stand nearer the tail end. Inside the ice-orb, the Queen still scowled and shouted at the dragons, but her words were being drowned out by the roaring that had started to break forth from the dragon's bellies.

Every pair of eyes in the room was caught by surprise when the first belch of fire burst forth. It was so bright Wolf had to shield his face from it. It leapt out in a great arc, two streams of molten heat that entwined and snapped in the frigid air. The fire struck the orb of ice and curled around it, tongues of flame licking. At first, nothing seemed to be happening. The air was getting hot, the fire was unending, and yet the orb stood and weathered the storm. Or so it seemed at first. Then, so tiny that he might not have noticed it, a tiny rivulet ran down the face of the ice, then another, and another. Wolf heard Wendell whooping with delight as the trickles of water grew larger and stronger, as bit by bit the Ice Queen's spell began to melt.

Inside the orb, the Queen shouted and raged, and finally, cowered behind the cauldron as her protective shield was destroyed. Finally, with a great crack the orb split neatly in two, each section rolling away down the dias to thud onto the floor. With just as sudden a crack, the dragon's sacred fire shut down, like someone had snuffed it out with their fingertips. Wolf looked to the dragons and to the Ice Queen, back and forth. He could not read the dragons expressions, but hers were easy to see.

"You think you've won, don't you?" she screamed as the dragon Zorn climbed the dias towards her. "My people will avenge me, even if you kill me now. Don't you know how quickly you will follow me into death?" she continued, pointing at Wendell.

"That may be true, Queen of the North. But I and every soul in this hall will gladly nip at your heels if by our death we will spare the Kingdoms that the Five Great Woman founded. I am Wendell White, grandson of Snow-white, and I have waited many years to prove my name!"

"You fools...you cannot stop the seasons" she shrieked. The dragon bore down on her, lifting his great talons to push her down. "Winter will always come, for everyone...winter will never..."

Her voice was cut off by a sickening crunch. Like a cat swatting a mouse, the dragon had crushed her. But it was not completely finished. With a great sweep of his head, Zorn shoved at the cauldron where it sat, still bubbling and sending up the magic. It overturned with a crash, spilling it's contents down the dias steps. Wolf stared at the black and silver fluid as it ran away into the cracks in the floor. His nose told him it was blood, a great cauldron of dragon blood; from a male dragon long sated on quicksilver. Wolf could not imagine a more powerful mixture. She must have been drawing blood for years to have amassed so much, he thought. Had it been pure luck or design that had caused her forebears to build their Palace here, right over the top of the mired dragon? Had they always known of it, or had it been only a recent discovery, one that had prompted the long envious Kingdom to seek war once again? Wolf guessed that they might never know the answers. The blood was acrid and stung his nose and eyes. It had all but disappeared back into the earth now, and the dragons watched it go. Those last remaining traces of magic also evaporated into nothingness, and Wolf knew in his heart that the rest of the spell was broken.

They had done it. The Ice Storm was over and the Kingdoms were saved.


	28. Chapter 28

_The Ice Storm_

Chapter Twenty-eight

Wendell stared down at the crushed mess that had been the Ice Queen. In many ways, it was a disappointing scene. He had expected some great last display of ground shaking magic, perhaps a curse laid or a final threat. But none of that had happened. Certainly she had been formidable and threatening to watch, but in the end she had died just as surely as any woman would when crushed beneath a dragon's foot.

Seconds more passed, each like an hour. Scarlett, still held in the circle of his arms, her back pressed against him, turned now so that he could see her face. She looked thinner than he remembered, dirt smudged and hair astray, but her eyes positively glowed with life and vigour. Whatever had happened to her, he found himself approving of it. Even down to the tiny little fangs that now protruded from her upper jaw. They were delicate, nothing really when compared to others he had seen, but they were unmistakeble. Almost as if she was noticing them for the first time herself, her hand flew up to her mouth in shock. Wendell grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"We have some stories to tell, you and I" he said.

"You have no idea" she replied, proud and defiant now in her stance, as if she dared him to make issue of it. Wendell knew better, and besides, these were the last moments of their lives, were they not?

The commotion outside the ruined Hall, which had been mostly silent during the dragon exchange, now began again in earnest. Within minutes they would be through, and Wendell did not need to do a headcount of his remaining men to know they were vastly outnumbered now and likely to be attacked by an army avenging it's Queen. He sighed and kissed Scarlett again, on the mouth and with none of the decorum expected of a King.

They were interupted long before he was ready. The heavy sliding sound of a dragon moving about on land made them both turn their heads back to the dias. The male dragon Zorn had returned to his mates side, head low with exhaustion. Both of them looked dead on their feet in fact. They had expended a great deal of their strength in destroying the Ice Queen and her magic. They would not last long against the men now breaking through. In answer to his thoughts a small figure made it's way forward. Wendell recognized Alice as she put her hands to the gaping jaws of the dragons. She was pushing at them, shooing at them like they were common house cats.

"Go on sillies, fly, hurry before they come..."

"Yes, go, save yourselves" Wendell heard himself saying. He went to stand next to Alice. It was as close as he ever thought he would dare come to something so magnificent and dangerous. The dragons fixed him with their baleful stares. "Go, please, with our blessings. You have already done so much for the Kingdoms. You deserve your chance to bring your people back to them. Fly now, be free". Braver than he thought, he reached out to lay a hand to the rough scaly skin. The dragon dipped it's head as if in response and then they backed up, stretching their leathery wings so that the tip of each brushed the farthest walls. Slowly, then with a rush that looked almost painful, they beat the air. What wasn't tied down or already destroyed was now, as debris rained all around. With ponderous beats, the dragons took to the air. For a moment, the dragon Zorn faltered, and Wendell knew he wasn't alone when he shouted out his encouragement to the ailing beast.

"Go on, go on you beauty!" he shouted. The wind blew and wolves howled, men ducked for cover and then suddenly there was silence in the Hall. They were gone. At that moment, Wendell made a decision. He would live to to see them again.

He glanced a few feet over, to where Wolf stood, half cradling Virginia in his arms, half carrying her. "We need to make a plan".

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Huff puff, but what plan? Wolf thought to himself. He wiped the dust from his eyes with his tattered sleeve. He had all but been blown completely off his feet by the massive winds stirred up by the dragons flight. Even though it had warred with his protective instincts to send away their only real hope for survival, he also knew that Wendell had been right. The dragons might have afforded them some protection, but in the end they would have been overwhelmed and destroyed. And no man, nor wolf, truly had the right to command the oldest of folk in the world. Wolf glanced up at the hole in the roof from where the dragons had made their escape, hoping that they would at least make it to a place of safety, where they could recover, and with luck, start the repopulation of their kind. Picturing the looks of horror of the face of the Dwarf nation made him laugh quietly though.

But right now, yes, they had to think, make a plan that would somehow ensure they escaped this place. He tried to think about the few things he had learned about Eigth Kingdom folk. They were hardy, strong willed, living in a hard land with few resources. They were also the only land in the Kingdoms where wolf and human mingled their bloodlines freely and without predjudice. Were it not for their feared defences of their territories, Wolf knew that a great many of the wolfen families in the other Kingdoms would have migrated here. Some had gone, but no one had ever heard from them again.

He looked at the dead Queen before her tumbled down cauldron. How had she come to power? Had she killed her predecessor and expected her people to allow the natural succession, the rule of pack to go to the strongest? Would these people, who were even now gaining entrance to the hall, would they follow whoever was responsible for the death of their Queen? Or would they simply avenge her and choose a new leader from amongst themselves? Watching Wendell, standing proudly and without fear, it seemed to Wolf that he would be the logical choice, seeing as how he was the one who had lead the attack on the Palace. But then again, he would also likely be the first one killed in revenge.

Blood scent flooded his nose, reminding him all too painfully on yet another unknown. Somewhere in this place was his daughter. Dead or alive, he knew not, but he knew he had to find her. Virginia stirred in his arms and he relaxed his hold a bit. She seemed to be recovering from the daze she'd been in the past few minutes. She stood wearily on her feet, looking around at the ruined Hall.

"Where...?"

"Hush, sweeting. We're in the Ice Palace. The Queen is dead, but I fear her people are not going to be very happy with that" Wolf said in her ear. Virginia struggled in his hold.

"No, no, my baby...I mean our baby. She's here somewhere...down below, we were there, Will and I. He helped me, he had her in his arms when I fell"

"She's alive? You mean, she's really alive?" yelped Wolf. "But, isn't she too early?"

"Yes of course she's alive" Virginia replied, a little of her old spark in her voice. "And yes, she is early, but she is full size and weight. Believe me, I know"

"And she is with Will?"

"Yes yes, I told you. We have to go down, we were captive together, a long way down in the ice, somewhere Rhoswen had made...no, wait...where is she? Where is Rhoswen?" Virginia said in a rush. Wolf did not know who she meant.

"Who is Rhoswen, Virginia?"

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Who indeed, am I? The words flashed through Rhoswens mind as she entered the Hall from the stairwell. Words that ought to be clarifying but now only produced confusion and bitterness. Nestled securely in the crook of her arm, the infant stared with all too knowing eyes, boring into her soul. That gaze made her dizzy and her skin feel like a thousand insects crawled over it. A part of Rhoswen wanted to dash the child away in horror, but she had never been one to cast away what was needful. Frightful or not, this child was her ticket for survival, and perhaps more. For a moment, she wondered if Neva had ever had this strange sensation of cradling a child not hers when Rhoswen had arrived in the Palace. She forced herself to stare back at the babe, noting the pale skin and miniature features of the mother. If only those eyes were her mothers too. I'll be your mother now, she wanted to say to the child, enchanted even as you may be.

Rhoswen took a moment to survey the wreckage of the room. No one had spotted her yet, it seemed, and that was a good thing, for what she saw shook her to the very bones. Something had destroyed the Hall. A huge something, to judge from the scraping trail and long gouges in the floor that looked just like talon marks. With a sickening realisation, Rhoswen knew what had made those marks. Had she not knelt before those claws before, using her will to shape the magic potion that had flowed forth? All the time convincing herself that she did no harm, for surely the creature was dead? Just an old, old dragon, mired and buried far from the surface. And her dreams, full of flight and fire, surely they were chance things only, weren't they?

Trembling, Rhoswen drew herself together. Whatever it had done, surely it was gone now from the Palace. It had freed itself finally, it would have only stopped perhaps to wreak revenge on whatever was closest to hand...

Neva was dead. Her eyes had finally come to rest on the crumpled figure. The cauldron lay on it's side, the precious magic vanished. Rhoswen could see the channels the magic had left in the floor as it had returned to the earth. All gone, all gone away, and so therefore, was the Ice Storm. They had failed.

A silent wail began in her mind. Neva, dead and crushed, how? How could such a one as she be defeated? And yet for Rhoswen, who had imagined her step-mothers death on so many occasions, now she felt only grief. True, Neva had been a hard and unforgiving parent, a harsh tutor with little love to be shown to her headstrong 'daughter', but she was all Rhoswen had had. As a foundling, a random child abandoned, Rhoswen had clung to what had been her only family. Neva had abused that bond, no doubt, but that did not make it any less real, or strong. Rhoswen found her feet moving towards the dias.

It was a mistake. They had seen her. A dozen pairs of eyes followed her as she approached the remains of Neva, but Rhoswen scarcely acknowledged them. Enemy or not, alone or not, she knelt at the edge of the dias. She wanted to howl the death song, to sing her grief as wolf folk will do, but nothing came forth. The sounds of men labouring to break into the hall were dim to her ears, but close now came footsteps. Out of the corner of her vision came the heavy walking boots, like those of a man but much smaller, and behind them a pair dainty ladies shoes that looked much the worse for wear. Rhoswen clutched the infant closer to her body. Almost without thinking, she drew her sharp belt knife to hover close, menacingly over the baby. There was a collective intake of breath in the room.

The person with the boots sat down awkwardly at her side. Rhoswen did not need to look up to know it was Virginia. The other woman sat quietly, hands clasped on her lap as calmly as if waiting for the sun to rise.

"I haven't thought of a name yet, you know" said Virginia suddenly. Rhoswen heard the smile in her voice and dared a glance sideways. Virginia looked tired, as any woman might, and she did have that certain glow of new mothers when looking at their newborn children. And she was gazing at the baby as she spoke, with such love on her face that it made Rhoswen weep inside. Would that anyone have looked on her with that expression!

"She should be nameless, as a foundling ought to be" she said, not caring if the bitterness dripped through her words.

"Ah, but my daughter will never have cause to know herself a foundling" replied Virginia, "for she will never be given up, nor cast away for another to pick up and make of her what they wish. Not like..."

"Not like me, you mean"

"No, not like you, Rhoswen, white rose" Virginia answered quietly. Rhoswen startled at the old meaning in the name Neva had given her. Without warning, fear swept her. What did this woman know? Did it matter? She raised her face finally to meet Virginia's eyes. Behind her, others stood, a tall fair man who she recognized as King Wendell, a dark haired half-wolf who glared at her with red rimmed eyes, an older man at his side. And now the owner of the dainty shoes, a woman with a long sweep of red lined cloak in tatters around her, leaning down with a mass of pale gold hair and a face just like...

"She, she's all I have" Rhoswen barked at them. "You don't understand, what it's been like for me. I have no one. No family of my own. I care not for the profit of war. I care not that my mothers people will never accept me as her heir and that they will probably kill me now just for being an outsider. I just don't...want to be alone!". Tears were threatening, she could feel them gathering. The ring of people seemed to waver and close around her. The baby mewed as she clutched her ever closer. The tiny heart was thudding against her ribs.

"Give the child to her mother". Someone else was speaking now, a feminine and kind voice. "You would not raise a child in the way Neva raised you, as a tool to be sharpened and used at will, a child that will love you, yes, but also fear you and one day, rise up against you. Please, Rhoswen, I beg you"

"Who, who are you to ask this of me? You know me not..."

"It is true, but that is a discussion for another day, in the presence of the one who brought it about I hope. But, look into my face now, Rhoswen. Do you not know me?". The command in the woman's voice was irresistable. Rhoswen looked up into her own face. The woman smiled at the hidden question on her lips, and in that smile, Rhoswen knew the truth.

"I...you"

"Yes and yes" the woman laughed, before extending a hand as casually as two ladies meeting on a stroll through the gardens. "I am Scarlett, Queen of the North Second Kingdom. And you are my long lost sister...Rose"


	29. Chapter 29

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Twenty-nine

Virginia reached out just as Rhoswen and Scarlett's hands met and touched. The baby came easily into her arms, slipping into the safety of her grip as if she'd never left it. To Virginia it felt like a great void had been filled that she hadn't been aware of, or perhaps she was picking up on the welter of emotion going on around her. Either way, it didn't matter one jot. She had her baby back, safe and sound. She bent to kiss the soft skin of her daughter's forehead.

"She looks like you Virginia" someone whispered in her ear. Virginia smiled at Scarlett in agreement. Next to her friend, Rhoswen trembled and fought back tears as she clung to her sister. Virginia tried to meet her eyes, but the other woman turned her face away as if in shame. Virginia longed for a long quiet spell in some warm and friendly place, where all three of them could sit down and spend an afternoon talking. But as the pounding racket on the doors increased, she knew that time might never come. They had minutes, at best and someone else was demanding her attention. Her Wolf, still standing back as she'd told him to do lest the Princess be threatened into harming the child. Now the babe was safe, he still looked for all the world like he was frozen to the spot. Next to him, Wendell also hung back in confusion. It made Virginia laugh suddenly. Did they think they were intruding on secret women's business?

_Well, perhaps they are! _The disembodied voice floated though her mind, but Virginia did not startle at it. It was one she had heard before.

She got to her feet with effort, reminded of just how tired she was. Wolf met her halfway across the floor. Cold wind blew in through the hole in the hall roof, but there was something different about it. It was still bitingly chill, but the lethal magic that had been in it was gone, leaving only the normal weather of the season. It was mid-winter still, but all through the Kingdoms, people and animals were pausing, to stare at the sky and clouds and murmur to themselves. Yes, spring would indeed come again. Somehow, in their bones and hearts, they knew. All would be well.

Despite their predicament, Virginia couldn't help but beam her happiness, and all around she knew that others felt the same. Even her father was grinning as he went back to helping the wounded soldiers. A few wolfs even began to sing, their musical howls filling the hall and nearly drowning out the thousands of soldiers that even now began to pour through, weapons drawn.

Virginia felt Wolf draw her into the protective circle of his arms. Wendell had run to scoop Scarlett from her sisters embrace, pulling the three of them into the centre of the room. Doggedly, what men who remained of his guard formed a circle around them, spears and swords outward, bristling and ready to fight to the death. Fear warred with her elation finally, and Virginia found herself being pulled backwards by Wolf, further into the circle of fighters. A part of her wanted to just close her eyes and wait for the inevitable, and yet another part of her was completely calm, detached and waiting.

Metal clashed on metal. Rhoswen's voice was muffled. She was shouting aloud, trying to get the attacking armies attention. Stop, stop, she called, but none heeded her commands. It that sense, it was true, Virginia realised. Rhoswen really had been an outsider in her own home, a stranger who had been tolerated because of she who raised and taught her. But they would not follow her. They might not kill her now, but that would be little help to Virginia and her friends.

As the fighting pressed closer to them, Virginia became aware of yet another familiar voice. She craned her neck, trying to spot him in the crowd, and sure enough his shock of white hair gave his position away. Her heart leapt to find that Yacobe still lived in spite of what Rhoswen had said otherwise. He too was shouting at the top of his lungs, in both wolfen and the human tongue. He had found an unbroken chair from somewhere and Virginia watched as he clambered up on it. He made a tempting target for those few of Wendell's men who had arrows, but it didn't stop him from trying to get everyones attention.

Dimly his words filtered through the crowd. _Moonshadow child, moonshadow child!_ Was he pointing at her?

Moonshadow child? Virginia wondered. There he went again with that superstitious nonsense! There was no moonshadow child, especially not here in her arms...

Virginia looked down at her daughter as if to reassure herself, but found herself gaping in shock. Her daughter was gone!

Instead, a tiny wolf cub lay quietly in her arms. Not a half wolf cub, nor even a quarter, but a whole and full bred cub! The cub mewed and squirmed, little clawed feet kneading the fabric of Virginia's shirt. The cubs lids opened a fraction, staring upwards with eyes that were the exact same shape and shade as...

_Mother?_

Virginia tore her gaze away for a moment, seeing that they stood directly under the hole in the roof of the hall now, down into which the full moon was shining. Virginia stared at the moon, then back at her...daughter...then back to the moon again. Was that laughter she heard? _We couldn't remove the taint from the child, Virginia. _Instinctively, Virginia drew her cloak tightly around herself, in effect forming a heavy shadow that shielded the baby from the moonlight. And, just as she suspected, when she peered down into the shadow, there was her daughter once more, looking all too human again.

Moon...shadow...child. Against all her better judgement, Virginia laughed. If this was some great cosmic joke, then she ought to be joining in on it, shouldn't she? She muscled out of Wolf's grip to move into the moonlight again. Sure enough, with a faintly detectable tremor and a visually disturbing twist of the air, the child morphed from human babe to wolf cub. Virginia stared at the perfectly formed paws, wincing at the remembered pain she'd felt whenever she'd stepped into the moonlight during her preganancy.

"Well, no wonder" she mused quietly. Wolf heard her murmuring though, and let his attention drift over to them for a second. Virginia thought the expression on his face priceless.

"What the..." he muttered, scratching furiously at his temple.

"Watch" said Virginia, drawing the cloak back over the infant, folding a small piece of it aside to reveal the little human foot peeping out.

"Huff puff!" said Wolf into the sudden stillness that seemed to envelope the room.

It was such a change in the noise level that it took a few seconds for Virginia's ears to stop ringing. All around her, men stood gasping for breath and wolves panted, and the half wolfs did both. All were exhausted, most were wounded, but all were staring in silence at her daughter. Men with the livery of the Ice Kingdom stood side by side with men from the Fourth Kingdom, weapons forgotten. They seemed frozen in a parody of what the Ice Storm would have done had it been unleashed. But someone was moving, pushing through the ranks of soldiers one by one. His gold rimmed blue eyes were fixed on Virginia's as he approached.

Right to within an arms reach Yacobe came to stand before her. There was a look of both wonder and pride on his face as to her surprise he knelt suddenly at her feet. But no, not at her feet, surely. At those of her daughter, her werewolf tainted, Goddess born child. The moonshadow child.

One by one, the Eighth Kingdom soldiers followed his example. Those wolfs and half wolfs in Wendell's troops also lowered their heads or knelt in deference. Glancing over at Wendell himself, Virginia saw him with something of a muddled expression on his face, but then he just shrugged and joined Scarlett and Rhoswen who were on their knees, hand in hand all the while. With a pang, Virginia knew just how Wendell felt. In this Kingdom, where humans were the minority, she simply had no insight into what her child meant to the people. But she had a feeling she would be learning all those things very soon, and more.

Someone was speaking or were they singing? Yacobe reached out to run a gentle finger across the cheek of the baby, and Virginia could tell that Wolf was still in shock because he let him do so with barely a growl.

"Behold, the Moonshadow child" said Yacobe. "The one long promised us from the Goddess Lucine, the one who will at last bring peace between the wolf and man, a thing that many have attempted but none have so far succeeded. Your daughter is truly blessed by the Goddess, Virginia. We would honour both you and her, as the Goddess wishes it." Then he paused to stand once more. There was a note of half command, half mystical plea in his voice. "We are your people now"

There was a low chorus of agreement from the crowd. Virginia stood, dumbfounded at the reaction. We are your people? What did they mean? Virginia was afraid she understood exactly what they meant. Wolf was at her side, his arm curled protectively around her, a comforting prescence that she wanted to cling to. Me? No, I can't be trusted with any power. Look at what happened to my mother, surely you can't mean what you say. All those thoughts and more whirled through her head.

_You are destined for great things, Virginia_. Snow-white spoke softly in her ear.

_She'll do very well indeed. _This was Ruby Riding Hood now.

_I was but a peasant girl before I became a Queen_. Gretel patted her arm.

Virginia knew better than to look for them, and she knew that she alone heard their words. The Circle of Sisters surrounded her with warmth and love.

_We've kept a seat here for you, you know._

Her daughters eyes caught her own, mesmerizing almost with their depth and innocence. The curve of a dimpled cheek suggested a smile. Just for a while, mother? Will you help my people, and become who you were destined to be, as I will? A great calm swept the room as Virginia agreed. Weapons were cast aside, those who were once enemies turned to help one another. Gradually, movement and speech returned, softly as the wounded were tended, the dead reclaimed and bourn away with honour. Wolves howled from high battlements, spreading the word. By daybreak, all lupine folk would know that their long awaited child had been born and the promise fulfilled.

But amid the activity stood a small circle of friends and family, and within them Virginia stood in a circle of her own. The moon shone down from the ruined roof and Lucine bathed the mother and child with silver, and as Virginia gathered her daughter close to her breast, a light rain of sparkling stars rained down on them from the night sky above.

And so the long and celebrated reign of the Moonshadow Child began.


	30. Chapter 30

_The Ice Storm _

Chapter Thirty

Spring seemed in a hurry this year, thought Wolf. Not that anyone particularly minded, not even in the Eighth Kingdom where snow and ice had ruled for generations uncounted. It would not be an easy task for the people of that Kingdom to adjust, he knew. They had long prided themselves on their survival skills in that harshest of lands. They did not know the simple pleasures of warmth and green things growing. Perhaps they would grow to like such things. Besides, there would always be the vast frozen north of the Kingdom. The Ice Queen had never held sway there, for she'd had no need to. Wolf wondered if many ghost-wolf packs and clans would leave their lands, but inwardly he doubted it would happen anytime soon. Wolf hoped they would come to see the softening of the land as a challenge in itself, and part of the price of having their new Queen amongst them. His daughter.

Word had spread quickly following the battle at the Ice Palace. Even before he and Virginia had left the place, pack after pack had come to see the child for themselves, to marvel at the magical transformation that happened every time she was placed in the moonlight. Wolf had found himself also at a loss sometimes. He didn't know what to make of her, this tiny little girl who looked like her mother but with eyes of silver gray. Wolf did not know of the legend of the moonshadow child, but that did not suprise him. He had grown up mostly in isolation from his kin. What education he had had come from his parents, and Sarah and Caelum had been practical before all things, teaching their sons how to live at peace with those who had eventually killed them.

What did surprise him was the level of devotion the people of this land had shown. There were scarcely any full blooded humans amongst them, he came to realise. Lupine blood and lupine traits flowed freely here, and yet they were human enough to have formed an army, to have followed a single leader. They had buried their Queen simply, and many had mourned her, but with a pragmatism of wolf folk. Now, they looked upon his daughter as their future. In the immediate aftermath of battle, Wolf had grasped at the protection his daughter had garnered for the survivors and for herself, without even speaking a word. Wolf didn't know how he would feel when his child came of age and all the expectations of a Kingdom fell upon her shoulders. But that day was a long time away.

The journey back from the Ice Palace had not only been a passage from one clime to another, but of winter to spring. Warm winds had followed them wherever they went, melting and sweeping away the last traces of death from the lands. Wolf had laughed to see the green fronds of ferns poking up from the snow as sun bathed the earth once more. There had been few horses that had survived, and so the bulk of the party had walked the roads, taking their time and making several excursions out to the outlying villages, letting the people know that the storm was over. Elves and fairies flew over the Kingdoms once more, taking word to the remote areas, bringing back tales of the changes they saw.

In years to come it would be called the Great Melting, this time when the vast store of water raged down the rivers and streams, coursing down mountainsides in roaring falls. There was damage done, to be sure, but no one really minded, not even those who had to clean up afterwards. They were just happy to be able to clean up at all. It had been a close call for the Nine Kingdoms. Everyone knew it, and yet in the renewal of life many found that bonds between them were strengthened. Covered in snow, all lands and all peoples looked exactly the same. All had suffered and all had had to work together to survive and rebuild.

And so the moonshadow child, who was also his daughter, would grow up in a more tolerant world. At least for a while. Even the hardest learnt lessons would be forgotten in time. The Circle of Sisters knew that. Wolf hoped that time of forgetfulness would be a long way off indeed.

The rising sun flashed in his eyes for a moment. From his position at the window, he saw colour return to the world and the bustle of activity begin anew. He scratched his head in bemusement. He was surrounded, literally, his little cottage adrift in a sea of tents, pavillions, makeshift kitchens and quarters for all manner of guests. True, it was an important day, but who knew just how much organising such a day would need?

The familiar beseeching tones of Lord Rupert, Wendell's castellan and now an honourary wolf-brother, floated up from below. Wolf craned his neck to peer down, seeing the back of the man's head as he pointed and drew theatrical circles in the air to a veritable army of assistants. Rupert walked with a decided limp nowadays, the legacy of a wound gotten in the Ice Palace battle. He had languished for weeks in Castle White (after all, a knife wound was _far_ more excruiating than a sprained ankle), but the very idea of someone else taking over his organising duties had roused him well enough.

Wolf laughed quietly as the flurry of assistants dispersed in all directions, but then his heart grew still and cold in his chest as yet another came into view. She still went cloaked and face shielded from the sun as if it burned her, but Wolf knew nothing would ever hide her from him. Rhoswen. No, it was Rose now, wasn't it? She paced the lawn, back and forth. Did she know he saw her? Probably. She was a sharp one, this throwback of the Riding Hood line, the babe that the former Queen Auburn had birthed and then discarded. Left on the windowsill to die. But she hadn't died. Someone, some quick thinking servant perhaps, had retrieved the infant girl, bringing her across the border into a Kingdom not her own, to be given into the care of someone who would raise her to be but a shadow of a princess, a meaningless parody of what she had been born to be. A sad story, so many said.

But Wolf bought none of it. Tragic forgotten child or not, she had killed his brother.

Tears burned his eyes and he wanted to brush them away angrily. It had been Wolf who had found Willems body, hours after the fighting had ended and that strange calm had fallen over the land. Nose to the ground, he had followed the trail to it's end, an already frozen body crumpled against the wall, looking for all the world as if asleep. Wolf had called his brothers name over and over. Virginia had joined them, adding her tears to his, but Wolf had never felt more alone in his whole life. After years of believing himself the sole survivor of his family, to find himself bereft once more had seemed a cruel blow. Will's arms had still been curled in the universal shape of holding an infant.

He had died protecting his brother's daughter. Wolf knew that he would afford Alice no less honour. The little girl-cub had been typically silent in her grieving, but in the way of children she had moved on with far greater ease than the adults around her. But then Alice was not like any other child Wolf had known. Full of secrets and surprises to come, he was sure of it. She had grown surprisingly attached to Virginia, and Wolf knew the love was returned tenfold. There would be no danger in this step-mother and daughter relationship, he knew. If only they could keep track of the child! She disappeared all too frequently, coming back with her face brimming with untold adventures and clandestine conversations with who knew what. No one knew where the dragons had gone, but Wolf suspected that their secret location was known by at least one small soul.

As the woman below stooped to breath in the scent of a new rose bloom, Wolf felt his anger crest and ebb away just as quickly. He knew in his heart that he would never really be able to sit at ease with this woman, nor she with him. She regretted her actions, he could tell, and perhaps that was enough for Wolf to live with, but they would never be friends. Wolf wondered for a moment what had transpired between Rose and her mother Auburn. She and Scarlett had gone back to the Second Kingdom directly after the Ice Storm battle; Scarlett to wrangle the throne from her errant brother and Rose to seek out their mother. Scarlett had been successful. It seemed that she had been putting his wolfish lessons about the Rule Of Pack to good use, and the boy had capitulated with barely a fight. Besides, the people had apparently been insisting that _he_ himself be the one to seek out and kill the dragon they had seen flying over the city one evening. Suffice to say, the general populace, thoroughly chastened by the long freeze had welcomed their Queen home and rejoiced at the potential they saw in her now. And the wolfs of the Second Kingdom smiled secretly behind their hands as the long hidden blood finally showed itself.

Wolf did not know what had happened between the two daughters and their mother Auburn. He did know that no announcement had been made to the Second Kingdom as to the true identity of Rose. Being the firstborn child, she could have by rights made a claim upon Scarlett's throne, but she had not. Wolf doubted if she ever would. She had had her share of political high places and was now but a shadow of her former self. Wolf shook his head. No, he would not pity her. No.

The morning breeze made the pennants atop Wendell's pavillion flap gaily. It had taken up a prime position just metres from Wolf's front door. Wolf suspected that the King would be looking a little bleary eyed this morning, but then, hopefully not as tired as he would be looking _tomorrow_ morning. Wendell had spent most of last evening pacing worriedly across the ground. Yes, Scarlett had indeed arrived safely with her retinue. No, they certainly didn't need any help in setting up their tents, thank you, and yes, it really is bad luck to see the bride before the wedding! Wolf and Tony had laughed and cajoled the poor man for hours until one of Scarletts maids had arrived to shoo them away and mutter under her breath about keeping the husband to be awake all night. Her mistress was insisting upon a bright eyed King being presented to her tomorrow, she said.

Evicted from the tent of worried looks, Tony and Wolf had prowled the grounds for a while, taking note and comparing the various pavillions that had taken up residence in the fields. Cinderella, Leaf-fall, Olaf the Dwarf King, even Gretchen from the south of the Second Kingdom. They were all there to witness the ceremony. Wolf folk filled the forest beyond the fields.The merry sound of King Cole's fiddlers and the Naked Emperors feather dancing cheered Wolf immensely and helped allay his own fluttering heart. Finally he had bid Tony goodnight and walked back to his empty cottage. The quietness of the house was a blessing to his senses, and more because of what it signified.

Now it was morning all too soon. He had barely closed his eyes before the sun had woken him. He yawned and stretched, casting aside his cares as easily as any wolf might do. He was not alone in his losses, he knew, but surely no one in the Kingdoms would ever be about to gain as much as he would today. He hummed a little wolfy tune under his breath as he went to get ready.

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Everything was in readiness. Somehow, someone had found a supply of bluebells of the exact right shade of blue to compliment his already stunning colour scheme. Rupert was in his element once more. His leg ached dreadfully, of course, but the sight of his perfectly laid out seating plan banished all such trivialities once and for all.

The guests were arriving, each bearing a gold inked invitation to be presented to the usher. Normally, Rupert knew that he would entrust to no one but himself the important duty of greeting and seating such important people, but he had trained the man personally, and Rupert had a far more pressing role to play today. He sighed and looked skyward once again as the two figures in front of him started fidgeting once more. If they didn't settle down, their wonderfully pressed suits would be crumpled, and then where would they be, hmm?

He looked between the two of them, trying to master a stern expression but failing ruefully. Both Wolf and Wendell had pinched white faces, sweaty palms and hopelessly askew neckties. Well, it was too late now to brush them into shape. Fortunately, Rupert knew for a fact that both of them had already been seen by their brides in considerablely _less_ appealing turn-outs. The tinkle of a silver bell announced that the final guests had taken their seats. In the front row sat the crowned heads of the Royal Houses of the Nine Kingdoms (excepting of course the Troll Kingdom, for who could ever trust a Troll to behave in decent company?). They were decked out in all their finery, jewels and mantles gleaming in the afternoon sun. Side by side with human royalty sat most of the alpha leaders of wolf folk from all over the lands. Bare of all tokens and symbols, still they had that special aura about them that made any sensible man (or wolf) want to lay down and prostrate themselves in obescience. Rupert gazed proudly over the gathering. Surely no such mingling had happened in years uncounted. Maybe, just maybe, he thought, Wolf and Virginia's little as-yet-nameless cub would not have all that great a problem in uniting the races in years to come.

The child in question was sitting on the lap of her grandfather, Lord Antony, in the front row closest to the aisle. Caelum, Wolf and Virginia's oldest son, was squatting on the ground near his fathers feet, looking clearly bored with the events and peeking around furtively as he tried to wriggle out of his specially tailored little suit. Rupert guessed the boy would much rather be off chasing and killing something. But then, like a finely tuned weather vane, he stood suddenly, gripping the back of Wolf's trousers as he peered down the row of people.

"Mama" he said.

It was indeed, and of course, she wasn't alone. Rupert heard many an indrawn breath as the two brides strolled easily down the grass carpeted aisle. Fairy folk from the Elf Kingdom preceded them, showering guests with tiny rosebuds and sparkles. Magic Birds from the Disenchanted Forest danced around their heads.

Scarlett was glorious in her flowing red gown that trailed a full ten feet behind her. A pale rose-tinted veil covered her face, but no one missed the happy tears that flowed down her cheeks. By her side, Virginia wore a stunning white dress that clung to her figure and flowed out from her hips to brush the ground lightly as she walked. She had no veil, just a simple garland of wildflowers bound into her hair. Both ladies walked unaccompanied, confident and glowing with beauty. And yet, just for a second as the setting sun dazzled his eyes, Rupert was sure that just behind the two women walked yet another pair. A red clad girl with a hood pulled close about her, and an older woman with skin as white as snow and hair the colour of ebony.

Someone pinched his elbow gently. Rupert shook his head a fraction, but the vision was gone. Before him stood two couples, Wendell and Scarlett, Wolf and Virginia, hand in hand. Waiting for him to begin. Rupert drew himself up and with all the nescessary flair for a great production, he started.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Kings and Queen, friends, wolf's, let us begin..."

In a flash, it seemed, the ceremony was over. It had been a traditional ceremony in the manner of most human weddings in the Kingdoms, but Rupert knew that somewhere in the Forest tonight, both these couples would gather once more, and in the moonlight there would be yet another, the wilder and less decorous marriage of the wolf folk. But that was for later. Right now, as the afternoon sun cast pink and orange light over the fields, the new husbands and wives were greeting their wellwishers.

Scarlett and Wendell were both giggling madly as they introduced each other formally for the first time, but a sudden overlooked concern struck Rupert just as he was downing a well earned cup of tea. By the Kingdoms, but this was a marriage between the House of White and The House of Red! Heavens no, would that now make them the House of Pink? It didn't suit either of their complexions, but in his turmoiled mind Rupert was already designing the new colour scheme.

Meanwhile, Wolf and Virginia were being equally silly with their antics. Virginia was blushing deeply as Wolf whispered in her ear. Rupert couldn't quite catch what he said, but he did hear the word 'succulent' many times. Rupert sighed. All too typically, Wolf was already thinking about dinner, obviously.

Now, as they stood together, Rupert heard Wendell turn to Virginia.

"Virginia, dearest sister, I know you don't like to talk about things like this, but really, you're about to become a Queen. Your daughter is heir to the throne now of the Eighth Kingdom. She is their chosen one, but it will be many years before she assumes her place amongst them. It will be to you and Wolf that the people will turn for leadership and stewardship"

"I know" replied Virginia. "I can't say I'm at ease with all this. It frightens me. I don't feel worthy, at all"

"Ah, well then be welcome to the life of royalty, sister. But don't forget, you're not alone! Look at Scarlett and I. Now we have two Kingdoms to manage!".

Virginia laughed. "Well, I suppose you're right. I guess a reluctant Queen is better than one who would trample over the world to be one. And I've got the best King, don't you think?" she said, hugging Wolf close to her.

"Yes, I agree completely. But, there's really just one thing you need to figure out today Virginia"

"What's that?"

"Well, I am the House of White. Scarlett here is the House of Red. What then, will be the name of your new House?"

Rupert watched as Virginia leaned in to Wolf. Their eyes met and he saw the love mirrored between them. Completely fortuitously, there was a lull in the crowd as she spoke.

"We will be...the House Of Wolves"

The End

Epilogue To Follow...


	31. Chapter 31

_The Ice Storm_

Epilogue

What The Moon Saw

She had shone before all things and would shine until all was ended. Sometimes, the years and centuries of the world below flashed before Her, gone as quickly as shadows fleeing the sunrise. Other times, be they only the span of one mortal life or less, Her long existence slowed enough for Her to taste of reality, to walk the forest pathways barefooted and peer through rippled glass windows.

This was one of those times.

Her silver form rose as it always had, for one cannot stop the passage of the heavens, not even Goddesses. Over the southernmost Kingdom she hung low, the one called the First, where the old Queen lay her head at last upon her pillow for the final time. She had ruled long, and well, this one. The world had changed beyond anything she had ever forseen from her place at the hearth so long ago. All around the royal bed stood Queen Cinderella's family and beloved servants, and amongst them _her sisters_. On this night, or perhaps the next, they would take her by the hand, to bring together their circle once more and to dance upon the shores of the faraway lake.

She gave the Circle Her blessing and moved north over the land.

Crossing the great river, she shone over the fields and orchards. Peace and prosperity had returned tenfold since the Winter five years ago. Chastened by the cold, people these days walked with appreciation of what the natural world provided, and with awareness of their role in protecting it. The Disenchanted Forest was as dense and unforgiving as it had always been. There were places in that great expanse where Her light had never touched the earth. Dark places that harboured unknown dangers yet to be revealed. Lucine did not trouble Herself with spying them out. With luck, She would never need to.

Further north, past a village where an Idiot waved up at her, the great Castle White was quiet. Ah, of course. The King Wendell, a bonafide Hero and Battle Veteran to his people, would be in his new Castle tonight, a stunningly beautiful palace newly built right on the border between his own Kingdom and that of his Queen's. It had been something of a scandal when it had been suggested. No one had lived in two Kingdoms at once before. Maybe, the other side wasn't so bad after all, they whispered. If a King and Queen could make little of the borders, surely it wouldn't hurt for the common folk to do so?

The roads were definitely busier with folk moving between the Kingdoms than they had ever been before.

Lucine took a moment to gaze into the Red and White Castle. It was full of people from both lands, as well as the usual retinues of visiting royalty from other Kingdoms. It had a wilder, less manicured look to it, this Castle. Forest had been spared rather than leveled in it's construction. Upstairs in the Royal Chambers, Wendell and Scarlett were preparing for sleep, having finally settled their toddler son and infant daughter. They were quite hands-on rulers, these two, very much loved by their people and more so by their children. Their son, Lucian, was a fair haired copy of his father who many were already placing bets upon being the Prince who would finally break the sleeping spell of the Sixth Kingdom by awakening the fair Aurora. Their daughter was named Rose, in memory of Scarlett's lost sister, who had disappeared shortly after the wedding, never to be seen again. Scarlett had grieved her sister as dead, but Lucine knew otherwise.

The Goddess watched as her daughter Scarlett paused at the window for a moment, her eyes brimming and luminous as she gazed out into the night. Wendell wrapped his arms around her from behind, luring her away with kisses and whispers.

Travelling as light as thought, Lucine followed the river westwards for a time, coming finally to the Lake where Her sister Coventina dwelt. But Lucine had not come to speak with the water Goddess, but to gaze with wonder herself at the rocky cliffsides of the Lake, where none but a dragon might find purchase enough to live. And live they did, these two oldest of beings, in a small cave scratched out and lined with debris. The female, Zaphira, wound her long tail protectively around a modest clutch of eggs, her mate Zorn watching protectively. They had yet to make a great impact upon the Kingdoms, these dragons, and in fact many had already forgotten they existed once more. Lucine hoped that their eventual return would be to a far calmer reaction than those evil days of long ago when their blood had flowed over the lands.

Crossing the barrier of mountains as easily as a cub jumping over a buttercup, Lucine moved to the east again. It was here, in this land that most of the changes had occurred. Fields that had once been barren now burst with life and sustenance for the Kingdom. Things that had once been only a scoffed at luxury for 'the southerners' were now commonplace. But they had lost none of their wild edge, these people of Hers. The moon's tides still ruled them. The law of pack still governed them. Those few who had dissented, who had urged once more for war and destruction had gradually been silenced, both by the acceptance of their own people, and the newfound friendship that flowed over the borders from Kingdoms far and wide. The court of the House Of Wolves was a friendly, open place and boasted the most bountiful of dinner tables ever seen in the Nine Kingdoms.

The Eighth Kingdom, however, was unique in one other way. It had no King, nor even a Queen. Rather, they called them the Warden and The Shepardess. Together they had opened up the Kingdom, bringing prosperity and friendship to people who had always known themselves feared and forgotten. Their obvious humility had won the hearts of the people in their own right. That they had brought the moonshadow child into the world seemed only a bonus in many peoples eyes.

Lucine descended to the earth, her bare feet sinking lightly into the cool ground. Standing as still as an oak, she waited by the small pool of water. She did not have to wait long. The child skipped through the trees. At first glance, one might have taken her but for a girl of five years or so, unless of course one paid close attention to the dappled moonlight. Lucine smiled as the girl jumped deftly from shadow to shadow, pausing now and then in the full light of the moon. Then, there was only the wolf. Still a cub, for the wolf must keep pace with the growth of the girl, but a wolf nonetheless. She was silver gray from nose to tail tip, sleek and strong. A hunter already, and a silent prowler in the tangled woods surrounding the Palace where she lived with her family.

The moonshadow child sat easily on the mossy bank of the pool, fingers swirling the dark water. She did not look up at the Goddess, although Lucine knew that She was acknowledged all the same. They had an understanding, She and Her Daughter. Child like, the cub was easily distracted. Swift as a fawn, she disappeared into the undergrowth. Lucine did not follow, but allowed her sight to fall upon another visitor to the clearing. It was as faint as a sketch in the air, but the woman's form was easily discerned. Lucine frowned heavily upon the intruder, even though She knew it to be a sending only. The source of the sending was far away, powerless except for this one thing, this one promise made to her many years ago, by another woman who had never guessed at how it might be fulfilled.

The two stared at each other until the night lengthened and dawn grew in the sky. The Moon was placid in her timeless cycle, but the wraith was all too patient.

And so it would be, if only for that little time known to us all as 'ever after'.

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Author's Notes: Firstly, thanks to all who have been following the story over the years. It was not a small undertaking to write these pieces, and after more than 300 000 words, I can honestly say that this IS THE END! And I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but leave just a tiny loose end, lol.

I would like to acknowledge the creative genius of Simon Moore and all associated with The 10th Kingdom. This is but a contribution from a dedicated fan. No infringement or disrespect is intended.

I am not one of those fanfiction writers who begs for reviews. It's never been why I write, but if you enjoyed the journey, feel free to simply say so :)

Kingdom wishes to you all, MoonLover. All Hallows Eve, 2006.


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